Code Geass R3: Continued Story
by WhiteAngel128
Summary: 5 years after Zero Requiem, Suzaku lived on as Zero and Lelouch as L.L. What will happen to the two when they meet again and when another country declares war against the world? Suzalulu
1. Prologue: Zero Requiem

**Hi, this is my first ever fanfic so please go easy on me. I wanted to post this story on Lelouch's birthday but sadly my internet died yesterday T.T. Anyway, let's get on with the show:**

**Warnings: Spoilers for last R2 episode for chapter 1 and AU for later chapters, Shonen Ai,…..**

**Notes: **_**Italics **_**are for thoughts, "…." Is for conversations and / is for scene change and stuff like that.**

**Disclaimer: It's pretty obvious that I own nothing…**

**Chapter 1 – Prologue: Zero Requiem**

A.T.B 2018 in Area 11, the crowd and the rest of the world watched carefully as the float carried the prisoners to the execution ground. Not far behind was the float carrying the 99th Emperor of Britannia, Lelouch vi Britannia.

"…..….Our Emperor, Lelouch, has finally completed his glorious goal of unifying the world. Glory to Emperor Lelouch! All hail Britannia! All hail Lelouch!" Said the announcer proudly as the parade continued.

None of the audience cheered for the Emperor. For in fact, they were all watching in anger and fear. Before them was the Demon Emperor who took over the world using wars and the sacrifices of countless people. The so-called prisoners were their heroes, their soon-to-be-diminish hopes.

"Look! It's Zero!" A voice shouted out of the blue.

The mention of the famous terrorist was all it took for the crowd to look away from the parade. Many gasped in disbelief at what they saw. In the far end of the road stood the masked leader of the Black Knights, Zero. Seeing the most wanted terrorist, the Knightmares fired showers of bullets at him. With inhuman speed, Zero dodged them all with ease. He ran and jumped onto the shoulder of a Knightmare and headed straight towards the Emperor.

"Don't fire, I'll take him on!" Lord Jeremiah Gottwald commanded as he dashed toward the terrorist. Zero jumped onto the Britannian's shoulder and from there jumped onto the Emperor's float.

Unknown to the world, under the mask of Zero was the former Knight Of Zero, Suzaku Kururugi. Before him was his enemy, Lelouch vi Britannia and also his best friend Lelouch Lamperouge.

/

When he saw Zero, Lelouch gasped in pretended surprise. The moment he was waiting for has come, the start of Zero Requiem.

"Why you insolent-" The Britannian was saying as he pulled out a gun from inside his white robe. The gun was easily knocked out of his hands with his own sword which he gave to his knight along with the Zero mask the day before. As he saw Zero raised the sword in an attack stance, he couldn't help but breaking his pretense to smirk a little. His plan was proceeding perfectly, soon the world will become a gentler one. In just a few seconds, Lelouch could feel the agonizing pain as the sword pierced through his abdominal area. Almost immediately after, the warm, red liquid poured out and stained his white robe.

/

Suzaku wanted to believe that what was happening was just a nightmare. Time seemed to have stopped because of the dreadful silence. The only sound that he could hear was Lelouch's harsh and soft breaths as he tried to speak through the pain.

"L-Lelouch..." Suzaku whispered through the mask as his tears poured down his cheeks. He could no longer hold back the tears that had threatened to fall down since the beginning.

"This is also your punishment." Lelouch whispered to his ear.

"You will be the defender of justice and wear a mask forever..."

Despite the pain, Lelouch urged his body closer to Zero, using the masked terrorist's shoulder for support. One of his hands reached up to caress the other's masked cheek.

"You will no longer be able to live as Suzaku Kururugi..."

"You will sacrifice all of your own happiness for the world...eternally..."

"This Geass...I solemnly accept." Suzaku finally answered underneath the mask.

Lelouch dropped his hand and let them fall to his sides. Suzaku pulled the sword back to himself to spare his friend of anymore pain. He watched as Lelouch stumbled and slid down the float to where his beloved sister was chained.

"Brother?"

Nunnally reached out for his hand when she noticed that he was smiling while waiting for his end. As she held his hand, something happened which made her realized the truth about her brother's actions.

"It can't be. Brother...you were...all along."

She held his hand tighter and closer. Silver tears were beginning to flow from her eyes.

"Brother, I love you!"

"Yes, I...destroy...worlds...create...worlds..." That was Lelouch's final words before his amethyst eyes closed.

"Brother! No! Open your eyes! Brother! BROTHER!"

The silence continued on and all that was heard was Nunnally's desperate sobs, begging for her brother to wake up.

"Lelouch the demon has died! Release the hostages!" The former princess Cornelia yelled out from a building's entrance as she led the remaining Black Knights and citizens to chase the Britannian Army. Knowing that they were outnumbered, the army retreated.

"This is unfair. I would have been happy with just living with you, Brother. I can't bear a future without you, Brother...I just can't..." Nunnally continued to cry.

Her cries were soon blocked out by the crowd's chants as they looked at their masked Hero, Zero. He was still standing on the Emperor's float, with his sword dripping with fresh blood.

"Zero! Zero! Zero! Zero! Zero! Zero..."

Unnoticed by everyone, Suzaku shook his head repeatedly that whole time, trying his best to tune out that horrible chant. _No, no, don't call me that!...Lelouch!_

**A/N: This chapter was a bit short and angst-ish, sorry about that. But like I said, it's my first ever fanfic. I'll try to update soon. Reviews if you like!**


	2. Requiem Aftermath

**Here is the second chapter, I actually wrote a few chapters before hand so maybe I'll update frequently (I still have an exam to study for and I'm kinda lazy as well). Thank you SayomiHayashi and DeLiRiOuSaNiMaL for reviewing! I'm glad you guys liked it. To DeLiRiOuSaNiMaL: Sorry about posting your idea first, it was a coincidence since I just got the idea from watching AMVs and reading stories about Code Geass. Geez, I talk too much don't I? Let's get the story on the road!**

**Warnings: Same as before.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or any of its characters. T.T**

**Chapter 2 – Requiem Aftermath**

_**Britannia**_

5 years had passed since the death of Britannia's Last Emperor and just as he had predicted, the world was a better place. There were no more wars and all Areas were returned their respectful names. On this day, everyone happily celebrated the Emperor's death. All except one person. This day was the worst day for Suzaku Kururugi, who was now known only as Zero. All of his hidden memories and feelings came back to haunt him. The memories of killing the person he cared about the most. These memories will torture him forever, for after receiving Lelouch's 'Live On' Geass, he can never die no matter how much he desired to. Fortunately, someone knew and understood his pain. For some unknown reason, Princess Nunnally vi Britannia knew he was Zero after Lelouch's last moments with her. Even so, Suzaku avoided her as much as possible. He just couldn't bear the guilt that he felt whenever he looked at her. He didn't want to admit it to himself, but he had forgiven Lelouch before Zero Requiem. If it wasn't because of the fact that it was the raven's wish, he could never have brought himself to harm someone he loved so dearly. _Lelouch, why did you make me do something like that, there must've been another way. You always have an alternative!_

"Lelouch...I miss you..." The brunette whispered as a warm, translucent tear fell down his cheek.

/

_**At that moment, near an island faraway from Britannia**_

The blue sky was still with large, fluffy white clouds and a bird flying at lightning speed. It might seemed like a bird but when you look closer, it was a Knightmare flying very high and hidden in the clouds. In less than a minute, the Knightmare had landed in the lush green forest of the isolated island. From the cockpit, a beautiful girl wearing a red and white Gothic dress walked out. She was humming excitedly to herself as she carried a large red rectangular box with a black logo saying _Pizza Hut_ on top of it. She walked deeper into the forest until a small wooden house came into view. She opened the door and entered without knocking.

"I'm back." The girl called out while closing the door behind her by kicking it. Inside the house was a living room with neatly arranged furniture, a bedroom, bathroom and a kitchen. From the kitchen, a young man of about 17 came out. He has short black hair, beautiful, deep amethyst eyes and a very slender and fragile-looking figure. He was wearing black tight jeans and a black sleeveless turtleneck.

"About time. C.C., where did you go?...Oh."

His face showed unhidden annoyance when he saw the item she was carrying.

"I should've known." He said, turning away. A few seconds later, his eyes widen as he realized a fact.

"Wait, you took the SHINKIRO just to go to buy a box of PIZZA?"

"And?" C.C. replied easily as if flying a giant robot for hundreds of kilometers to buy junk food was the commonest thing for anyone to do in the world. She walked to the couch while swinging a key on her slender finger and then threw it carelessly onto the table, earning a death glare from the standing raven nearby.

"Pizza is a necessity." She said matter-of-factly and took a bite out of a slice of pepperoni pizza.

"Ah, I've missed this taste so much." She continued contently after swallowing and bit on the pastry once again.

"You just had one 3 days ago!" The raven said in disbelief.

"3 days is way too long. Anyway, it's not like anyone saw me so relax, Lelouch."

After hearing this, the youth relaxed a little.

"Still, you shouldn't have risked it."

C.C. looked up at him after finishing her 5th slice.

"Why are you so worried about anyone spotting either of us? It's been 5 years already, no one will recognize you even if you were standing right in front of them."

"You think people would forget the face of the Demon Emperor so easily?" Lelouch asked as he looked out of the open window.

"Besides, I have no need to go out. To the world, Lelouch vi Britannia is dead."

"But L.L. isn't."

At that moment, a gust of cool wind blew in from the open window, revealing a large, crimson bird-shaped mark across Lelouch's forehead. The mark was exactly the same as the one C.C. had, which was covered by her green fringe.

"You really should go out once in awhile, this is not a prison or anything. I know you're bored out of your mind." C.C. continued with a small hint of worry in her voice.

"Don't worry, it's not like boredom can kill anyone, especially me."

"But you hate being bored, don't you?"

The raven sighed and gave up, there was no point in wasting your breath battling a battle you couldn't win.

"Alright. Here's the deal, if I agree to go out, will you promise to leave me alone after that?"

"OK, you got a deal." C.C. smirked, satisfied at another victory.

"Let's see, where should we go..." She mumbled to herself while hugging her favorite stuffed yellow blob, Cheese-kun. The raven sighed at the sight. Call it instinct but he just knew he's not going to like whatever she's planning.

/

_**Back to**__** Britannia that evening**_

Suzaku woke up when he heard his phone ringing, he didn't even realize that he fell asleep on the bed for 3 and a half hours and it was now nearly dark outside. Before he could answer, the phone stopped ringing, changing to voice mail. When he looked at the bright screen in the dark, there were 6 missed calls from Princess Nunnally. Reluctantly, he pressed call and listened to the usual dial tone.

"Hello?" A familiar voice of girl was heard in the other end a few seconds after.

"This is Zero. Did you need something from me, Princess?"

"I told you, Suzaku. You don't have to talk to me like that." A few small giggles were heard from her.

Suzaku couldn't help but smile when he heard those innocent sounds and gave in to her request.

"Sorry, Nunnally. So, why did you call me?"

"Oh, right. I'm going to Hawaii for a conference with the Prime Minister of Australia tomorrow. I was wondering if you'd like to come with me."

"Why? If you need bodyguards, there's Kallen, Gino and others."

"No, I don't need you as my bodyguard Zero but as my friend Suzaku Kururugi. The conference will only be for one day and then I'll be free to enjoy a holiday in Hawaii for the rest of the weekend. I think it'll be a nice break for you as well."

"Nunnally, you know I can't go out without the Zero disguise. The knight Suzaku Kururugi is dead."

"You can disguise as someone else. Please Suzaku, these days I feel like you're avoiding me. I've already lost my brother, I don't want to lose contact with you as well."

The brunette flinched when he heard the sadness in her voice, there was no way he could refuse her offer now.

"Alright, I'll go for you, Nunnally."

"Thank you so much, Suzaku! I'll send Sayoko to get you in the morning and she'll do your disguise on the plane."

"Ok. I'll see you tomorrow then. Bye, Nunnally."

"Good night, Suzaku!"

After hearing that, Suzaku ended the call. He threw the phone back onto the mattress and turned to look at the alarm clock on his nightstand. The bright red numbers informed him that it was 8:15 PM. The brunette decided to take a shower to wake his mind fully before making dinner. He was definitely not looking forward to tomorrow and the days after.

**A/N: And there goes chapter 2. It's kinda weird that the mood in the story became a lot lighter, I have no idea why, it just turned out that way. Anyway, please review if you like!**


	3. An Unexpected Reunion

**Hi, it's me again with the third chapter. Thank you Ragez and Mr Sambob for reviewing! Well, that's pretty much what I've got to say for now. Let's get to what we're all here for!**

**Warnings: Same as previous chapters.**

**Notes: **_**Italics **_**are for thoughts, "…." Is for conversations and / is for scene change and stuff like that.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Code Geass, I wouldn't be sitting here writing fanfics since what I wrote would be in the anime already. **

**Chapter 3 – An Unexpected Reunion**

_**An inhabited forest in Hawaii **_

_I knew that I'll regret letting her choose our destination. _Lelouch thought wearily as he leaned against a tree while watching C.C. walk out of the huge dark cave where they have hidden the gigantic Knightmare in. When she reached the irritated raven, she could immediately see the frown on his face.

"What's wrong? Don't you like the place I've chosen?"

A vein popped on Lelouch's head.

"Of all the possible places in the world, you chose HAWAII?"

"Oh? I'm hurt. I thought it would be a nice place for our romantic honeymoon." C.C. placed a hand on her chest and pouted sadly.

Instead of sympathizing or feeling bad, the raven gave her a death glare.

"You think I'll believe something like that? What's your real reason for coming here, witch?"

C.C. smirked, her expression changed completely from what it was less than 5 seconds ago.

"I guess you know me too well for lies. I heard that there's a shop here that sells the best pizza in the world, so of course I have to taste it to see for myself."

Lelouch slapped himself in the face for not realizing this obvious fact sooner.

"*Sigh* Do what you want. Since we're already here, I'll look for some books or something in town. Meet me back here in 3 hours, and DO NOT spend all of MY money on pizza!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. No promises, though. I'll see you later then."

After parting with C.C., Lelouch, or rather L.L., made his way into the Central Shopping Centrer. It'd been a while since he'd last seen so many people. Of course, he was in a disguise, completely different from his usual appearance. His ebony hair was dyed into hazel-brown, only the ends were visible underneath a baseball cap, his vibrant violet eyes were now covered with aquamarine contact lenses behind dark sunglasses. He was wearing casual light brown shorts and white T-shirt with white simple runners. These disguises helped him blend in well with the sea of tourists and locals. After glancing with not much interest at many shops, L.L. found what he was looking for – a bookstore. The store was very large and spacious with shelves after shelves of books sorted into different genres. He went to the Mystery section and picked out a few books after carefully inspecting their titles and blurbs. He decided to sit in one of the black leather chairs positioned beside rectangular windows which seemed very inviting to someone who was looking for a good place to read.

/

_**Another section in the same shopping centre**_

Suzaku groaned as he scratched the back of his neck, getting more and more irritated at his itchy wig. _Sayoko really overdid it this time._ He sighed and thought back about what happened in the morning.

_**Flashback: That morning, 9:00 AM**_

Suzaku yawned as he brushed his teeth while still in a half-asleep state. Since Nunnally had forgotten to tell him what time Sayoko was coming, he assumed that it was fine to wake up at 8:50. He had just finished washing his face when a loud sound was heard from the front door. He ran out to check what that sound was. Standing at the doorway was a Japanese woman with short black hair in a black and white maid outfit whom he instantly recognized to be Sayoko Shinozaki. Underneath her feet was his white door, now torn off its hinges.

"Good morning, Master Suzaku. How are you today?" Sayoko smiled kindly as she walked to him even though she'd just entered his house by kicking down his door.

"Uh...good morning, Sayoko. I'm fin-" Was all he got to say before the maid grabbed him by his shirt and dragged him towards the exit of his house.

"W-wait, Sayoko! At least let me change first." The brunette looked down at himself, he was still wearing gray sweatpants and a white shirt from last night.

"I'm sorry but we don't have time. Besides, I'll be doing your disguise later anyway, which I assure you will include appropriate clothing."

"Okay, then can I at least walk by myself?"

"Oh, certainly."

When he got into the private plane, he was greeted by the Britannian princess. Before he could greet her back, he was pushed into a dressing room by the surprisingly-strong maid. She threw him some simple clothes to change into. After the brunette was dressed properly, she pulled him to the make-up table. Being a master of disguise herself, Sayoko was able to transform his appearance completely. Suzaku could hardly recognize himself in the mirror, his chocolate-brown curly locks were hidden underneath a shoulder-length light blond wig, and his leafy emerald eyes had changed into topaz orbs.

"Wow, you did an amazing job, Sayoko."

"Thank you, I tried my best."

They exited the dressing room and met up with Nunnally who was looking out a window from her wheelchair. She turned towards them when she heard the door opened. She gasped in amazement at the young man standing beside her personal maid.

"Suzaku, is that you?"

Said brunette chuckled at her reaction.

"Yes, it's me. I look really different, don't I?"

"Indeed. You did well, Sayoko."

The maid bowed towards the Princess in acknowledgement.

"Attention passengers, we will be landing in Hawaii shortly. Please put on your seatbelts." An announcement came up.

"I guess you finished just in time. Oh and Suzaku, you don't have to stay with me for the conference. After we land, we'll go to the hotel and check into our rooms. After that, you can go and look around the towns."

"Oh, Ok."

_**End flashback**_

And that was how he ended up at the Central Shopping Center, wandering aimlessly pass countless stores. That was until his stomach growled, reminding him that he had not eaten anything for half a day. Luckily, there was a bistro cafe right ahead so the brunette – or rather the blonde – decided to grab lunch there. The shop was decorated with paintings, pot plants, wooden chairs and tables which gave the place a nice vintage style. Around the room hung the smell of freshly made coffee, pastries, hot and cold foods. Suzaku ordered a small coffee along with a ham and cheese sandwich and sat at a table outside the shop. The food was brought out to him 10 minutes later. Looking at the sandwich, Suzaku remembered back when he was still a pilot for ASEEC and how Cecile had made the strangest and some time inedible-looking foods for him. He shuddered at the thought and shook the memories away when he found himself quickly losing his appetite. Reluctantly, he took a bite out of the innocent-looking sandwich. Fortunately, the food tasted pretty good, or maybe it was just the fact that he was very hungry. As he ate, Suzaku looked around him. It was 12:45 so most people have sat down for lunch like him, only a few people were still walking or looking around in shops. When his eyes landed on one of the windows of the bookstore opposite the bistro shop, he saw a young man about his age sitting in a leather chair reading a book with full concentration. His head was leaning on his left hand, causing his chin-length brown hair to cover most of his face. Suzaku couldn't quite put a finger on it, but there was something strangely familiar about the youth. He decided to watch the brunette for a little while more. That didn't last for very long. 10 minutes later, the brunette shut his book and left his seat. When the youth was out of view, Suzaku thought about finding a few books for himself as well, they might be useful for passing the time later on. He paid for the food and crossed over to the bookstore's entrance.

/

_**Inside the bookstore**_

When L.L. noticed that it was 12:55, he made a mental bookmark for the book he was reading and headed to the checkout to pay for the rest. There was not many people left in the store so he didn't have to wait long to pay. In less than 5 minutes, he was outside the door and walking to the exit of the shopping center. _I wonder where C.C. is, it's nearly time to go back. Hopefully she hasn't eaten all the pizza in that shop or used up all of my money. Next time, even if she manages_ _to_ _talk me into going out again, I'll be choosing the destina-_

"Woah! Ouch." Lost in his own thoughts, L.L. bumped head-on into a blonde – who must have also been spacing out to not notice him, causing them both to fall backward from the impact.

"I'm sorry, are you alright?" The blonde said quickly as soon as he came back to his senses.

L.L.'s eyes widen in realization and surprise. _That-that voice! No! It can't be!_

Against his better judgment, L.L. looked up. During the fall, his dark sunglasses had fallen off. Topaz and sapphire eyes stared at each other directly for one short instant before L.L. turned away, breaking the eye contact. Despite their flawless disguises, both seem to have recognized the other when their eyes met.

"D-don't worry about it." L.L. mumbled quickly before picking up his things and ran away as fast as he possibly could, which was actually not very fast because of his poor fitness level, leaving the blonde to stare in shock on the floor.

_Was that...Lelouch?_

**A/N: And there goes chapter 3. I must admit, the POV changes were kind of confusing and the flashback was pretty much pointless but I needed something to fill the page. So yeah, at least writing it was quite interesting. Anyway, review! Please?**


	4. Hide And Seek

**Hi, it's me again with the fourth chapter. Thanks for the reviews I received, I'm really glad so many people enjoyed the story. Speaking of which, let's get it started!**

**You know the warnings and notes stuffs,….**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but this story.**

**Chapter 4 – Hide And Seek**

_**Back to the forest in Hawaii**_

Lelouch fell onto his knees as soon as he reached the cave with his hidden Knightmare. He struggled to breathe after running all the way from the shopping center – which was about 2km away. Even as an immortal, he was still ridiculously weak.

"Would you mind telling me the reason why you're looking half-dead?" A muffled voice called out from behind one of the trees near him.

When he looked, a girl with long, bright green hair was standing there with a piece of pizza in her mouth. The raven held up his index finger, signaling her to wait. Understanding his gesture, C.C. continued munching on her favorite food. After another 10 minutes of huffing and puffing, when he was sure that he could speak without stuttering, Lelouch turned and glared deadly daggers at her.

"You chose the worst place and time possible to come to, witch."

"I thought you were through complaining already. And why?"

Lelouch's glare became even darker and deadlier, if that was even possible.

"Because of you, I'd just, literally, bumped into HIM!"

"Who?"

"HIM!"

"Who's 'him'?"

"Stop playing dumb already! You know who I'm talking about!"

"Honestly, I haven't got a clue about who you're referring to."

"I'm referring to SUZAKU KURURUGI!"

Unlike Lelouch, who were freaking out, C.C. merely raised an eyebrow for about half a centimeter.

"And?"

"What do you mean 'and'? He could've recognized me!"

"There's also a chance that he didn't. Even if he did, I don't see what's so bad about it. You already paid for your sins with Zero Requiem so he shouldn't have any problems with you. Technically, you DID die before waking up as an immortal."

By that time, Lelouch seemed to have calmed down a bit after overreacting about the whole situation.

"Still, that doesn't mean that I was forgiven by him."

"Whatever, if you want to then let's go back. I'm stuffed anyway."

"Yeah, we should head back now. Oh, by the way, C.C.?"

"What?"

"I'm NEVER going to listen to your suggestions ever again. No matter what!"

"Is that a challenge, Lelouch?"

"No."

"I thought so."

After the conversation – it was actually more of an argument – ended, the two immortals walked into the cave. In less than a minute later, their Knightmare was soaring through the sky, hidden in the clouds as they flew away from Hawaii.

/

_**At the Midnight Resort**_

Suzaku thought back at what just happened a few hours earlier as he sat eating dinner with Nunnally. He was actually just putting whatever was on his plate into his mouth without tasting it since his mind was entirely somewhere else. _Could that really have been Lelouch? If it really was him, then how did he survive? More importantly, why didn't he tell me he was alive for all these times? Why did he-_

"Suzaku, is something wrong?" A voice interrupted his train of thoughts.

"H-huh? Oh, no, it's nothing." The brunette quickly answered back.

"Are you sure? You looked like something was bothering you."

"Don't worry about it, I was just thinking about something. It wasn't important or anything."

"Oh, anyway, did you enjoy your day? I'm sorry that I couldn't be with you even though I was the one who invited you."

"It's alright, I had fun. But if you want, we can do something together tomorrow."

"OK, that sounds good."

Without anything else to say, the two continued to focus on eating the delicious seafood. After dinner, Nunnally was invited by the Prime Minister to a late classical concert. She did ask Suzaku to join her, which he politely declined.

"It'd been a long day so I think I'll go to sleep early tonight."

"Oh, okay then. Goodnight, Suzaku!"

"Goodnight, have fun at the concert!"

Suzaku walked back to his room after seeing Nunnally off. He placed his wig and contact lenses on the table and fell back onto the double bed. _ I feel bad about lying to Nunnally, but I can't tell her about Lelouch just yet. I'm not even sure if it's really him or not, it wouldn't be right to get her hopes up for nothing. Damn it! Why didn't I grab him back or chased after him or whatever instead of sitting there and staring like an idiot! Lelouch, if you're really alive then I'll find you and bring you back! But…how can I ever find him again?_

Suzaku decided that he'll go back to the bookstore again tomorrow to look for anything that might help him find the raven. After that, he fell into a dreamless sleep.

/

_**In Lelouch and C.C.'s house that night**_

C.C. lied on the sofa, hugging her stuffed toy while watching Lelouch. Said boy was leaning on the windowsill, looking out the window to the star-filled sky and lost in thoughts.

"Still thinking about your little knight, boy?" She spoke up, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Yes, he looked exactly the same as the last time I'd seen him even though it's been 5 years."

"What else did you expect? He accepted your Geass after all. He is immortal now, just like us."

"I wonder what he thinks of me now."

"If you're THAT curious about it, then go and ask him yourself."

"Very funny, witch. I guess I shouldn't think about it too much, there's no way he or anyone else can find me here, right?"

"Wow, it took you this long to figure that simple truth. And I thought you were suppose to be a genius."

"Whatever, I'm going to bed. It's your turn to sleep on the sofa tonight."

The green-haired witch made a face at that idea.

"What kind of gentleman are you? How can you make a weak and delicate girl like me sleep on the cold sofa while you sleep soundly on the warm and comfortable bed?"

Lelouch smirked at her reply, enjoying his revenge.

"You? A 'weak and delicate girl'? That must be the most untrue statement of the century! After what you put me through today, I think sleeping on the sofa is a light punishment. But of course, if you want to argue some more, I can change it to two months or more without pizza."

"You really ARE the Devil himself, aren't you?"

The raven chuckled at her expression and question.

"So I've been told."

**A/N: Okay, that must be the lamest chapter so far, I'll just go and cry in the corner somewhere now T-T. I promise the next chapters will be better! Until then, see ya! Oh, I almost forgot, Reviews!**


	5. Surprise Visits

**Hello, it's me once again with a new chapter. Thanks to the people who have reviewed the previous chapter. Well, here we go again!**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Code Geass even though it's been a week. **

**Chapter 5 – Surprise Meetings**

Suzaku was in his disguise once again as he pushed Nunnally through the resort's beautiful garden with a variety of colorful and exotic flowers. Occasionally, the girl would gasp in wonder at some strange native flowers while Suzaku was silent for most of the time. The only thoughts in his mind at that moment were possible ways to find his best friend again.

"Well, well, look who we have here?" A familiar voice of a male called out in front of them at the exit of the garden. Standing there was a glassed man wearing a lab coat with light violet hair and a woman with dark blue hair wearing a yellow summer dress.

"Eh? Aren't you two Earl Asplund and Miss Croomy?"

"Yep, it's us! What are you doing here in Hawaii, Princess?"

"I had to attend a conference with the Australian Prime Minister here yesterday."

"I see. And what about you, Suzaku?"

Said boy's eyes widen when he heard his name was called. The two scientists did know about the fact that he was alive and was Zero but he was amazed that he was recognized so easily. He chuckled nervously at the glassed scientist.

"I guess I'm busted. I'm here since Princess Nunnally invited me. But how did you know it was me?"

"Oh please, it's not that difficult to recognize someone with such a simple disguise like that."

"Lloyd! Be nice!" His blue-haired assistant smacked him on the head with her handbag.

"He was kidding, Suzaku. We overheard your conversation with the princess earlier. If I didn't hear her calling you by your name, I would never have thought it was you. That disguise is really good!" Cecile continued with her usual sweet smile.

After Zero Requiem, Suzaku had continued to work for Lloyd, Cecile and Rakshata as a pilot for new aircraft or Knightmares.

"Thanks, Cecile. Speaking of which, what are you and Lloyd doing here?"

"Oh, we were meeting Rakshata to help her improvise her submarine. After that, we tested it by using it to get here."

"And it's lucky that you're here, Suzaku. I've got a job for you." Lloyd interrupted their conversation.

"What is it?"

"We just added some new features to the Lancelot and I want you to test them out."

"I'd love to help but I promised to stay with Nunnally for the day."

Both men turned and looked down at the girl.

"Oh no, it's fine, Suzaku. You should help Earl Asplund. You've been with me all morning already."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure Suzaku."

"Alright then, that settles it. Suzaku, meet me at the port in half an hour. I'll have everything readied for you by then." The Earl of Pudding interrupted again, getting more impatient.

"OK, I'll see you guys later then."

Suzaku pushed Nunnally back to the hotel and then headed for the port. _I guess it wouldn't take too long to help Lloyd and Cecile. After that, I'm going to find Lelouch. _The port was not far away from where he was staying, it was only a 15 minute walk. At the far south of the port was a giant black submarine which was his destination. As soon as he stepped in, the door closed behind him and the engine started noiselessly. He had been in here a few times so he was sure where the Knightmares were. Soon after, his familiar white Knightmare came into view. Standing next to it was the two scientists.

"You came just in time. Here's your pilot suit, put it on and get in the cockpit." Lloyd directed when he reached them. After changing into the usual pilot suit, Suzaku stepped into the cockpit and started the engines. Everything seemed fine as the Lancelot prepared for launching.

"Suzaku, are you ready?" Cecile's voice came out of the transmitter.

"Yes."

"OK. Lancelot, launch!"

Right after that was said, the white Knightmare leapt off the run-way and soared through the sky.

/

_**At Lelouch and C.C.'s house**_

"C.C., where do you think you're going with Shinkiro's key?" Lelouch said as he looked up from his book, noticing that the green-haired witch was leaving with HIS Knightmare's key in one hand.

"Relax, Lelouch. I'm just going to get something I forgot yesterday in the cockpit."

"Alright, but be quick."

"Yes, _Your Majesty_." C.C. replied, her voice was dripping with mocking sarcasm.

The raven rolled his eyes but said nothing as he turned back to his book.

When she was outside, C.C. continued walking towards the Knightmare. Her usual emotionless golden eyes were full of mischief as she climbed into the cockpit. The inside was spotless with not a single object out of place, proving that what she said to Lelouch earlier was a complete lie. However, she did come out here for a reason. She inserted the key, waited for the screen to light up and entered the password.

"Whoops, I wonder what would happen if I forgot to turn off the systems after using the lights to look for what I'd forgotten." She said out loud to no one in particular.

"I can't wait to find out." With another devious smile, she jumped out and landed gracefully on the ground. The witch walked away towards the beach without another glance at the robot. Inside, the Knightmare's mechanisms were turned on and left there on Stand By.

/

_**Somewhere above the ocean, in Lancelot's cockpit **_

Suzaku was concentrating on controlling the Lancelot to do many skillful turns as he flew across the empty sky.

"Is everything alright, Suzaku?" Cecile asked him through the communicator.

"Yes, your upgrades are great! And everything else is working perfectly."

"I'm glad to hear that. We should have enough data by now, you can return if you want."

"Okay."

He was about to turn the Knightmare around when his radar picked up another Knightmare's signal. _That's strange, why would there be a Knightmare out here in the middle of nowhere? I should check that out._

"Cecile, is it alright if I fly the Lancelot to somewhere for a little while more?"

"Of course, just be mindful of your energy filler."

"I will."

Suzaku directed his Knightmare towards the strange target. As he approached closer, he realized that it wasn't an ordinary Knightmare, judging by its size and icon on the radar. Soon after, an island came into view. Since it wasn't shown on the radar, the island was definitely undiscovered. Suzaku landed the Lancelot about 200m from the mysterious Knightmare. He walked towards the forest with a gun in hand just to be safe. What he saw deep in the forest was unbelievable, before him was the 99th Emperor of Britannia's Knightmare, the legendary Shinkiro. The Knightmare has been lost during all the chaos after Zero Requiem. New hope rose within him. As far as he knew, the only person who could successfully control this highly-advanced Knightmare was Lelouch vi Britannia himself. He climbed into the cockpit to check if anyone was in there.

/

_**Outside Lelouch's house**_

_Damn that witch! Does it really take that long just to find something in a cockpit? _An irritated Lelouch walked out of his house and towards the Knightmare. _She is going to pay BIG time if she had taken MY Knightmare to buy PIZZA, again! _After 10 more minutes of walking and cursing, he reached his Knightmare. Thankfully, it was still there but the witch was nowhere to be found. _If she's not here then where can she be? Damn it! Is annoying me her favorite recreational activity or something? So it's a game of hide and seek now, huh? Forget it! She couldn't have left the island without Shinkiro, I'll just wait until she got bored of it and go home. _Without another thought, the boy turned and walked away from Shinkiro. Oblivious to him, said Knightmare's cockpit opened behind him.

/

Disappointed at the fact that the cockpit was empty, Suzaku decided to head back. As he was exiting the cockpit, he spotted an unmistakable raven-haired boy standing about 10m away.

"Le-Lelouch!" He called out without thinking.

The boy froze visibly for a moment before dashing away into the forest.

"Lelouch, wait!"

Unlike last time, Suzaku chased after him. In less than a minute, he had caught up with him and had managed to get hold of his left wrist. The raven squeaked in surprise and tried to run.

"L-let go! Woah-"

Before he could say anything else, Lelouch's leg was caught in a tree root, causing both boys to fall to the ground. With a moan of pain, he tried to get up but was pushed down again by the brunette's weight on top of him. He used his hands to push the other off of him but his wrists were easily caught and held beside both sides of his head. To make it worse, his legs were also pinned down by the brunette's. Even though he knew it was futile, the boy continued to struggle. Above him, emerald eyes were full of different emotions as their owner had finally found the person he had longed for after so long.

"Lelouch, why didn't you tell me you were alive?"

"Why do you care? Everything between us have finished in Zero Requiem, I have nothing to do with you or the rest of the world anymore."

Suzaku flinched from the coldness in the boy's voice. But the fact that Lelouch had thought that no one cared about him irritated him even more.

"Of course I care! Do you know how hard it was to live with the guilt of killing you all this time!"

Lelouch turned away, not wanting to look at those sad emerald orbs any longer.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't even be alive. If you haven't seen me again, you would have eventually forgotten me."

"I DON'T want to forget you! I've never stopped thinking about you after all these years. But, how DID you survive anyway? I remember watching them bury you next to my grave."

"Can we talk about that later? Since we have something sorted out, would you mind getting off of me first before moving to other issues?"

"Eh?"

Suzaku looked down, away from Lelouch's face for the first time. His face resembled a ripe tomato when he realized what position they were in. Reluctantly, he got off the pinned boy and helped him get up from the ground. They walked towards the beach and continued to talk.

"So, about my question before..."

"You know about C.C. being immortal, right? The conditions to gain immortality are to have Geass on both eyes, killing another immortal and dying once. I killed my father who was an immortal while having two Geass. After Zero Requiem, C.C. dug me up from the grave and I woke up as an immortal. We've been living on this island since then."

"I see."

"Now it's my turn to ask questions. How did you find this place?"

"Well, I was testing the Lancelot for Lloyd and Cecile when I picked up Shinkiro's signal. I followed it and arrived here...Err...Lelouch? Are you OK?"

In the middle of hearing Suzaku's explanation, Lelouch had 5 veins popped on his forehead. _C.C...you are going to pay dearly for this! _

"Um...Lelouch? Lelouch?"

Suzaku shivered a little when he noticed that his friend looked like he was about ready to kill someone.

"Oh, don't worry. I was thinking about something."

"OK, I should head back now. You'll come with me, right?" By that time, the two had reached the Lancelot.

"I can't. Lelouch vi Britannia is dead."

"That doesn't matter. I'm supposed to be dead, too. Remember?"

"But unlike me, you still have a role in this world. You are also Zero. I have no reason to return."

"Then, can I at least come here to visit you?"

The raven thought carefully about this offer. _It's better to let him have his way than to have him keep bothering me about going back._

"Alright, but you can't tell anyone about this place. And I mean NO ONE, no matter who it is."

"OK, thank you. And, Lelouch?"

"What?"

"I'm glad that I was able to meet you again." Suzaku smiled his signature naïve smile.

For the first time in years, Lelouch blushed – even though it was only a light one.

"I-idiot! That's not a good thing at all!"

"Why?"

"I-it just is! Now shut up and go."

Suzaku chuckled at the raven's reaction. He couldn't help it, it was really cute how he stuttered – although if he had said that out loud, the boy would surely have killed him for it.

"Alright, see ya Lelouch!"

"Bye."

Suzaku started the engines. The screen flickered before him for one second and then went black again. The brunette climbed out of the cockpit once again and looked at Lelouch who were standing close by. An awkward silence started between the two. A minute later, the silence was broken by Suzaku's nervous chuckles.

"Looks like my energy filler ran out since I left the Lancelot on for this whole time."

He received a death glare for that innocent statement.

"You idiot! How could you be so careless?"

"Well, the Lancelot also has solar panels for emergency recharge but it'll probably take quite awhile."

"Exactly how long is 'awhile'?"

"Erm…about a day…..or more."

"WHAT?"

"Hey, that's the only way. Since you don't want anyone to find this place, I can't call for anyone to bring another energy filler here."

"*sigh* I guess it can't be helped. Fine, you can stay here for the day."

"Thanks."

Suzaku called Lloyd and Cecile to inform them about the Lancelot. As expected, Cecile insisted on bringing another energy filler to his current location but he declined the offer. His excuse was that he wanted to try a simulation where he was on his own without another energy filler or anyone to contact so he had to use the solar panels. This immediately got him Lloyd's interest and permission with the conditions of giving a full report afterward and that there'll be no damage to his precious Knightmare. Then, he called Nunnally, mainly to apologize for not being able to be with her today and tomorrow. By the time all that was done, it was already sunset so the two headed back to Lelouch's house.

Unknown to them, high up on a tree about 30 m away was a green-haired girl. She was spying on them with highly advanced binoculars which she 'borrowed' from Lelouch while petting a squirrel.

"My, my, this is working out better than I thought. It's going to be a very interesting night." She said to herself as she climbed down and headed back home.

**A/N: And that's the end of the chapter folks! I hope you liked it (I did ^^), it was the longest chapter so far. Now, Merry Christmas to everyone! Let's just say this was my early gift to you. Have a nice Christmas and remember to review!**


	6. An Eventful Night

**Hello, I'm back with another chapter! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, I posted this chapter on New Year's Eve (Australian time anyway) ^^! Thank you to all the people who reviewed the last chapter, I'm really happy that you guys liked it. Although, I was surprised that some of you didn't know that this was a Suzalulu story since I did mention it in the first chapter, I'm sorry that I didn't make it clear. I didn't say it was yaoi (more like shonen-ai which is lighter) since it won't be there won't be stuff like lemon and all that but there will be a few Suzalulu moments as we go along with the story. Well, that's about all I've got to say. Let's continue with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or any of its characters (I don't like saying this T-T)**

**Chapter 6 – An Eventful Night**

After their conversation on the beach, Lelouch and Suzaku headed for the raven's house. There was a tense silence between the two on the way since neither of them knew what to say to the other. In his mind, Suzaku was trying to imagine what the house would look like just to pass the time. He was excited at the fact that he can spend more time with the raven, maybe even alone. He blushed a little and slapped himself disguise the blush before the other noticed, earning him a curious glance from his companion. After a few more turns, the two reached their destination.

The house was completely different from what Suzaku had imagined, he was expecting something bigger and more brightly-colored instead of a dull little wooden house. Inside was – as expected – very neat with not a speck of dirt.

"There you are, Lelouch! Do you know how worried I was when I came home to find you missing?" A green-haired girl called out in a way-too-dramatic-to-believe voice from the couch.

The killing aura around Lelouch from earlier reappeared once more as he looked at the girl.

"Cut the crap, witch! Where the hell did you go and why did you leave Shinkiro on?"

"I don't know what you're saying, I went to get my stuff and headed back immediately. As for Shinkiro, I must have left the engines on after I used the lights. Oops, clumsy me!" C.C.'s voice was dripping with fake innocence.

Lelouch was getting madder by the second, he decided to let it pass before the conversation gets ugly.

"Whatever. You are going to pay for this, witch."

"I don't see what's so bad about it."

"Are you kidding me? Because of you, THIS came!"

The raven pointed at the boy standing behind him – who smiled and waved right on cue. C.C. looked at Suzaku as if she'd just seen him for the first time when he'd been standing there for more than 5 minutes. Her eyes turned back to Lelouch as she smiled sweetly at the two.

"I see you've brought a friend home. That's very nice of you, Lelouch."

"Ugh!"

The raven slapped himself across the forehead and headed to the kitchen to cook dinner. Suzaku followed him. He had been standing next to the door watching the 'fight' between the two immortals and was trying very hard not to laugh at how cute Lelouch was when he was yelling. It reminded him of a cat hissing at another. He suddenly thought of when Lelouch was forced to dress up as a cat by the student council when they were still studying in Ashford Acedemy, the thought made him smile widely.

"What are YOU smiling about?" Lelouch asked, noticing the stupid-looking smile on Suzaku's face.

"Huh? Erm, n-nothing really."

The brunette gulped when he received one of the famous death glares from the still very annoyed boy.

"It'd better be nothing. Anyway, do you have any requests for dinner?"

Lelouch inspected the fridge to see what he'd left.

"Anything's fine."

"Curry it is then."

The raven brought out the ingredients and started cutting the meat into chunks. Suzaku felt kind of strange just leaning against a counter and watching him do all the work so he decided to offer help.

"You need help with anything?"

"Fine, can you help me dice the vegetables?"

"Sure."

Suzaku stood next to Lelouch and skillfully peeled the potato skin. _It's been a while since I'm with him like this. It sure brings back memories about those days from years ago. _Behind them, little footsteps of a girl were heard as C.C. entered the room.

"My, just look at you two. Cooking together like newly-weds, it makes me feel like a third wheel."

Both boys dropped their knives and blushed at the statement.

"Sh-shut up, witch. This looks nothing like that." Lelouch said since he was the first to recover, he picked up his knife and returned to his task.

"There's no need to be shy, Lelouch. Anyway, what's for dinner?"

"Curry."

"How boring, can't we have pizza instead? It's been 3 days since my last one already."

"If you're going to complain, do something about it yourself."

Amethyst eyes widen when their owners realized what he'd just said.

"Wait! I-"

"Okay, I'll go buy the pizza." C.C. smirked and left, taking Shinkiro's key with her.

"Damn it! Why did I fall for her little trick so easily?"

Suzaku chuckled at his reaction.

"Yeah, she really got you good there."

Another death glare from the raven which stopped the latter's chuckles right away.

"Sorry."

"Hmph! Just get back to cooking."

After another hour of cooking in silence, the dinner was done.

"Can you set up the table? I'll get the red wine."

"Right."

The brunette left the kitchen with plates and utensils to the dinner table. He placed the plates on opposite ends of the table with a knife and fork next to each. Looking back at his work, he was quite proud of it. _All we need now are candles, some flowers and music and it'll be like a dinner date. _Suzaku blushed at the thought. Of course, he did love Lelouch but there was still the matter of how the boy felt about him. His mind started to wander as he thought of the possible outcomes if he told the raven his feeling tonight.

"Have you finished day-dreaming?"

Lelouch's voice brought him back to reality.

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"Whatever, nice job with the table arrangements though."

The raven put down a large plate of hot curry and a bottle of red wine in the middle of the table and two glasses next to the plates.

"Looks good, Lelouch."

"Thanks." Lelouch served some curry into the other's plate and did the same for himself. The two sat down and started eating.

"C.C. sure takes long to get pizza."

"Ugh, don't remind me of her. With her obsession for pizza, it's a miracle that I still have money left."

"How did you get the money anyway?"

"Gambling, what else?"

"Why am I not surprise."

"You want seconds?" Lelouch asked suddenly, noticing Suzaku has finished his plate of food.

"OK, thanks."

The brunette continued eating after receiving the rest of the curry.

"Anyway, that's enough about me, what about you? What have you been up to?" Lelouch continued with the subject from before.

"Me? Oh, since Zero is rarely needed now, I usually work as a pilot for Lloyd, Cecile and Rakshata. They and Nunnally are the only people who know that I'm still alive."

"I see. Do you know about anyone else?"

"Let's see, Milly's now a famous news reporter, Kallen went back to Ashford and graduated, so did Nina and Rivalz, Ohgi and Viletta got married, most of the Black Knights got back to their normal lives with ordinary jobs, Jeremiah works on an orange farm with Anya, and Nunnally is now the spokesperson for Britannia along with Schneizel and Cornelia. That's about all I can remember for now."

"Wow, the world has changed a lot."

"Yeah, thanks to you."

"*chuckle* I hardly did anything."

"Taking over the world and changing it with your own hands counts as something, Lelouch."

"I suppose so."

By that time, the two have finished their dinner and was drinking the red wine. Both of them noticed that they were talking to each other like they once did so long ago.

"Hey, you want to eat dessert as well?" The raven-haired boy asked, noticing that his friend seemed to be hungry still.

"Huh? Sure."

"I can see that you still have that big appetite. Wait here for a moment."

Lelouch went back into the kitchen and came back a few minutes later with two slices of apple pie with whipped cream. He handed one plate to Suzaku who gladly accepted it.

"I hope you don't mind that these are left-overs from yesterday."

"Not at all, it tastes great."

Suzaku looked up from his plate to Lelouch for a moment. He almost dropped his spoon at the sight before him. On his friend's face, very close to his lower lip, was a bit of pure white cream that was very suggestive. To him, it was a very provoking sight. Before he knew it, Suzaku was leaning over the table, closer to Lelouch.

"Wh-what are you doing, Suzaku?" Lelouch stuttered as one of the said boy's hand got hold of his cheek, turning his face to one side when their noses were almost touching.

"Just stay still for a moment." Suzaku whispered into his ear in a deep voice, making him shivered a little.

Lelouch blushed bright red when he felt a tongue licked a spot very close to his lips. After that, the brunette let go and moved back.

"Wh-what t-the hell w-was THAT for, y-you idiot?"

"There was cream on your face so I licked it off for you."

"Idiot! You could've just told me!"

"Ok, sorry about that."

"Hmph!"

The still-flushed raven stacked the dishes into a neat column and went into the kitchen.

"What's with all the yelling? Did the two of you break-up already?" When Suzaku turned around, C.C. was standing at the door with a slice of pizza hanging from her mouth.

"NO! We were NOT even together to begin with!" Lelouch yelled out from the kitchen before Suzaku could answer.

"Are you sure about that? You could've had me fooled."

"Shut up, witch! Don't make me come out there!"

"Fine. Suzaku, come outside with me for a minute."

Said boy nodded and walked outside the house with her. The sky was already dark with glittering stars outside, the only source of light in the endless darkness was the bright crescent moon.

"You really shouldn't keep picking fights with Lelouch. He might explode from rage someday."

"But it's just so amusing, you should try it sometime. By the way, are you happy to see him again?"

"Of course I am. And I have to thank you for it."

"You can show your appreciation by buying me pizza someday."

Suzaku sweat-dropped while imagining the amount of money he'll have to spend.

"You like him, don't you?"

"Eh? *sigh* is it really that obvious?"

"Yes, only someone as clueless as Lelouch would not notice it. You should tell, or better yet, show him how you feel."

"Is that why you led me here?"

"Indeed. Lelouch thinks that no one cares about him anymore and YOU have the chance to prove him wrong."

"YOU care about him, too. That's why you're doing this in the first place."

"You're right, I do care about him but just not in the same way as you do."

"What if he doesn't feel the same way about me?"

"You never know until you give it a try. And trust me, you have a pretty good chance."

"Fine, I'll tell him. Thanks again, C.C."

"Remember the pizzas."

The two went back into the house and was greeted by Lelouch.

"What were you two talking about out there?...Never mind that, I don't think I want to know anyway."

"Wise choice, boy. Well, it's late. We should all get some rest. I guess I'll be sleeping out here tonight, correct?"

"You got that right, witch. Come on, Suzaku."The raven motioned him to follow into the bedroom.

"You don't have any clothes to change into, right?"

"Yeah."

Lelouch rummaged through his closet and found some clothes.

"Here, these should fit since we're still about the same size. Go take a shower first, feel free to use the towels and everything else in there."

"Thanks."

Suzaku went into the bathroom next door and happily took the refreshing shower. Lelouch had given him blue sweatpants and a white shirt which fitted perfectly. The brunette went back to the bedroom after he had dried his hair.

"Your turn, Lelouch."

"Ok, you can sleep first if you want."

Lelouch left the room, leaving Suzaku to look around his surrounding to pass the time. As expected of Lelouch's room, everything was tidily arranged and spotless. Then, he noticed that there was only a double bed. _Doesn't that mean that I'll be sleeping together with him? _He could feel the heat rising up to his face at the thought. _Wait! This is a good chance to tell him since we're alone right now – not counting the immortal pizza-loving witch outside that is but she probably planned this anyway._ Suzaku began thinking about possible ways that he can use to tell Lelouch how he felt.

"I said you didn't have to wait for me."

A voice came from behind, making Suzaku jumped. When he turned around, he saw Lelouch walking into the room.

"Oh, uh...it's fine."

Lelouch walked past him to the mirror to comb down his hair, he had changed into gray shorts and a white singlet. Suzaku's blush from before darkened a little when he noticed how the clothes complimented the boy's slender figure and pale skin. After he had finished combing and drying his hair, Lelouch made his way to the left side of the bed.

"I'm going to sleep first then. Thanks to that witch, I'm totally drained. It's amazing how she keeps finding new ways to annoy me." Lelouch let out a yawn and settled underneath the bed's cover. Seeing this, Suzaku decided that it was now or never and climbed on top of the raven. Said boy, who must have been very tired, didn't even flinch. He simply opened his mauve eyes by a fraction to look at the figure above him.

"Lelouch." Suzaku whispered as he leaned in closer, his eyes on the latter's slightly-opened pale lips.

"Lelouch, I lo-"

"Just go to sleep, idiot."

Before he could finish his love confession, Suzaku was pushed off by Lelouch and fell down to the floor. The raven turned onto his side and was dead asleep.

_Ouch! Who would have thought that Lelouch can be so violent when he's half-asleep. He wouldn't even remember it if I tell him now, I'll just have to wait for another time. _Suzaku sighed heavily and lied on the bed next to the fast-asleep Lelouch. After watching the boy's peaceful face for awhile, he also fell asleep. Unconsciously, the two boys moved closer to each other.

/

_**In that same night in Seoul, Korea**_

"Here they come! Everyone, fire with all you have!"

The soldiers yelled out to each other from their Knightmares and tanks. The sky was filled with showers of bullets and missiles aiming at the flying targets in the darkness. Little explosions covered the sky after that. Through them, armies of thousands of flying Knightmares came out. All of them carried the Russian flag. In an instant, the sky was once again lighted up with ammunitions but this time heading straight towards the ground. Unable to escape or counter the attack, the Korean armies on the ground disappeared into a sea of ravenous, burning flame.

**A/N: And that's a wrap! I liked this chapter, although the last bit was totally random and sorta ruined the mood but it gave us all a preview of the next chapter. Well, Goodbye 2010 and Happy New Year Everyone ^^! (A year past by so fast and it's the end of a decade!) I'll try to update soon and please review!**


	7. Another War

**Hello everyone, it's me once again with the latest chapter! Did you guys have a nice new year? I'm depressed that I only have 2 weeks left of holiday (noooooo!) Anyway, thank you for reviewing and I've decided to answer a few reviews every now and the for a change. So here it goes!  
**

**To PXLight: thanks for the tips, I'll look out for the mistakes more!**

**And to ****Isabel E. Milner: Yeah, you're probably right but I think C.C. cares about Lelouch as well. And for your question, I have no idea. I'm having a really bad case of writer's block right now so I'll just see how it goes^^. **

**Well, sorry about taking so long for an introduction, let's continue with the story! **

**Disclaimers: No, I did not get Code Geass for Christmas or New Year so I do not own it or any of its characters.**

**Chapter 7 – Another War**

_**In Lelouch's bedroom**_

The sunlight came pouring in from the open window, informing the two occupants – or at least one of them – that it was morning. Suzaku groaned and turned to his side and closed his eyes tighter, trying to avoid the annoying light. When his arms wrapped around a pillow, his nose tickled a little when it met something that was extremely soft and smelled like fresh flowers. Right at that moment, something soft and warm next to him stirred and snuggled closer to his chest. The brunette's eyes popped open as he realized that what just moved was not a pillow.

Beside him was a peacefully sleeping Lelouch who must've also mistaken Suzaku for a pillow since he was hugging him as tight as he could. Suzaku couldn't move because of the possibility of waking the raven and it did felt nice having the boy so close to him. _Since I'll probably be like this for a while, I might as well make the best of it. _Suzaku leaned against the base of Lelouch's neck, enjoying the warmth of the boy's skin. He soon found himself lost in the raven's intoxicating scent and started kissing and nibbling some spots on the latter's neck lightly. The kisses were chaste at first but they eventually became rougher with passion. These kisses, of course, were too hard to pass by unnoticed.

Lelouch woke up as soon as he felt someone's teeth biting a spot on his neck. The first thing he saw when he woke up was a certain brunette on top of him, kissing his neck and jaw. The raven blushed brightly as he tried to push the other boy away using his free arms. Without breaking the trail of kisses, Suzaku caught his arms easily and pinned them above their owner's head with one hand. His other hand was pushing Lelouch's singlet upward, feeling the pale, smooth skin underneath.

"S-Suzaku, l-let me go!"

No answer. Lelouch was getting very annoyed, he really disliked it when people don't answer or obey him.

"SUZAKU KURURUGI! LET GO OF ME THIS INSTANT!" He demanded loudly in his most emperor-like voice.

Suzaku's eyes opened widely as he immediately let go and moved away from the very agitated boy beneath him.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" He called out as his left arm moved to his chest by reflex before his brain could stop it.

"What the HELL do you think you were doing?"

"Huh?"

The brunette looked down and saw a flushed and panting Lelouch glaring daggers at him. He also noticed that the boy's neck was covered with newly-made red marks and his clothes were very messy.

"Oh, I...err...was…trying to wake you up?" That was the best he could come up with at that moment. It was not easy coming up with a good and believable excuse while having Lelouch glaring at you.

Lelouch raised an elegant eyebrow and then, surprisingly, smiled while straightening up his clothes. That icy smile was even more terrifying than his death glares, making the latter's hairs stand on their ends as he waited for the boy's wrath.

"Well, that was certainly a...UNIQUE way to wake someone up. And now that you have accomplished your goal, please get the hell out."

Hearing the raven's ice-cold voice, Suzaku gulped and left the room. After closing the door behind him, the brunette continuously bumped his head against the nearest wall. _Stupid! Stupid! He's mad now, I totally blew it!_

"*yawn*Hey, you're going to make a hole in the wall if you keep that up." C.C. called from behind as she leaned against the opposite wall. Suzaku stopped banging his head for a moment to speak to her.

"Just leave me alone."

"What's with all the yelling so early in the morning? You know, last night I told you to show him how you felt but that doesn't mean raping him."

"I wasn't raping him!"

"Judging from what I'd heard, whatever you did to him was without his permission."

"Well, I was just hugging him but then I kind of lost control of myself and started biting and kissing his neck which caused him to wake up. To make it worse, he tried to push me off but I pinned him down instead and now he's really mad at me."

His face reddened as the images of said events ran through his mind.

"Wow, you blew it big time."

"I knew that already so no need to rub it in harder!"

"Anyway, looks like you won't be able to get close to him for a while."

"*sigh* I know."

At that moment, the bedroom door opened and Lelouch came out. He was wearing his usual black sleeveless turtleneck – but for more than one reason, of course. Unfortunately for him, the shirt did not cover all of the marks created by Suzaku earlier. Some of them were high up near his jaw, the redness stood out like a sore thumb on his pale skin. C.C. opened her mouth to say a smart comment but the raven stopped the words before they could come out of her mouth.

"Say ONE word about the marks and you'll regret it, witch."

"I wasn't going to ask about that."

"Yeah, right."

Lelouch went inside the kitchen without another word, Suzaku sighed at the fact that he was completely ignored by him. _He's REALLY mad. I can't blame him, though._

"I'm gonna go apologize to him."

"Good idea, it won't be any fun picking on him when he's like this."

"Is that all you're worried about?"

"Pretty much."

Suzaku went into the kitchen and closed the door behind him. Before him was Lelouch, who was reading a book while waiting for the toasts in the toaster. He looked up from his book when he noticed the brunette entering but said nothing.

"Lelouch, I'm sorry about before. I wasn't thinking properly."

"Clearly, you weren't."

"It's just, I-"

Suzaku was about to begin his declaration but the words were stuck in his throat due to the lack of preparation.

"You what?"

Lelouch was still cluelessly waiting for him to continue his unfinished sentence. He took a few deep breaths to calm his heart down and began speaking again. _This is it. I have to tell him now. Here it goes!_

"I love you, Lelouch!" Suzaku yelled out as quickly as he could and waited for Lelouch's answer.

Said boy only stood still on the spot in shock. Minutes which seemed like hours passed by, Suzaku felt like his heart was going to burst at any moment from the unbearable silence. His mind was imagining all the possible outcomes and most of them were not very good.

"You...love me?" Lelouch said when he finally found his voice again. His heavy blush from before also came back along with his voice.

"Yes...and I want to know if you feel the same way."

"I...I don't know. This is all too sudden and I'm really confused right now. I have never thought about things like this before." Lelouch turned away, hiding his embarrassed face.

Suzaku sighed in relief at his friend's answer. _At least I wasn't rejected. I still have a chance._

"It's okay, you don't have to give me an answer right away. I've waited 5 years for you so waiting for a bit longer wouldn't be a problem."

"Suzaku, I-"

Said boy's phone rang, interrupting their conversation. Suzaku signaled Lelouch to wait before answering his phone.

"Hello?"

"Suzaku, is that you? It's me, Cecile." Came a voice from the other end.

"Yes, it's me. Is something wrong?"

"Is the Lancelot charged yet?"

"I'm not sure, I haven't checked yet."

"OK, can you get in the Lancelot? I'll talk to you more in there. It's very urgent."

"Alright, I'll see you later then."

Suzaku flipped his phone close and looked at Lelouch. Said boy was very curious about the brunette's private discussion.

"What was that about?"

"It was Cecile. She said there's something really urgent and she needs me in Lancelot immediately."

"I see. Let's go then."

"You'll come with me?"

"You need someone to show you the way back, don't you?"

"Right, I should've thought of that."

The two left the kitchen and walked out of the house without saying another word to the witch lying on the couch. As they walked through the forest, Suzaku realized that he really did need Lelouch's help since he had no idea where he was going. In minutes, they reached the beach where the white Knightmare was.

"Thanks, Lelouch."

Suzaku jumped into the cockpit and started the system. Luckily, the energy filler was fully charged which means his 'experiment' for Lloyd was a success. When the computers were on, he contacted Cecile using the communicator. After a few seconds, the image of the blue-haired assistant came up on the screen.

"Hello Suzaku, I see the solar panels worked."

"Yes they did, so what was it that you wanted to talk about?"

"Ah yes, have a look at this."

Another screen popped up, replacing Cecile's screen, it was a recording of a news report by Milly Ashford.

"Hello everyone, this top story just came in. Last night in Seoul, Korea, an intense battle between the Russian Federation and the Korean army broke out. The battle lasted for more than 5 hours before the Korean army was destroyed completely. Earlier this morning, the Russian Federation had officially declared Korea as part of it as well as Brazil, Denmark and most of Asia. For now, it seems like history is repeating itself just right after the casualties caused by the Holy Empire of Britannia years ago have settled down. Here are some footage of the battle fields." Milly continued to narrate as she showed the footage of what was left after the battles before Cecile's screen returned once again.

"That's all the information we've received so far. We'll be having a meeting in 2 hours with Princess Nunnally and a few others in Britannia. You'll need to be there as Zero, any other questions?"

"No, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"OK, Lloyd and I will be waiting for you in the laboratory. I'll see you later, Suzaku."

Cecile cut off the communication, leaving Suzaku to sink in all the information he'd just received. _Another war, huh? _He grimaced as he pulled out a spare Zero costume from underneath the seat and changed into it. Soon he was dressed in the full attire, minus the mask. He was about to direct the Lancelot to take-off when he noticed that Lelouch was still standing nearby outside. _I guess I should say goodbye before leaving. _ Suzaku jumped down from the Knightmare and walked towards Lelouch, the mask was still in his right hand.

"What's wrong?" Lelouch asked curiously when he saw his friend's grim face and the fact that he was dressed as Zero.

"The Russian Federation has taken over Korea, Brazil and Denmark. At the moment, it seems that another great war is unavoidable."

Lelouch's face fell when he heard his friend's answer.

"I see. So my plan failed, huh?"

"I'm sorry, Lelouch. I was supposed to be the one to protect the peace you sacrificed yourself for."

Suzaku turned away. He hated himself for not being able to fulfill his loved one's only wish. He flinched a little in surprise when he felt two warm hands touched his cheeks gently and turned his face back, meeting Lelouch's mesmerizing violet orbs once again.

"It's not your fault, Suzaku. You've done your best. Besides, I knew that a perfect world was too good to be true."

Lelouch smiled sadly. He was about to remove his hands when Suzaku held one of them still on its spot on his cheek.

"Lelouch, I'll end this war. No matter what it takes."

Suzaku's emerald eyes were full of determination as the two stared at each other deeply for a long moment.

"Uh, Shouldn't you be going now?" Lelouch asked when he realized that they were getting carried away from the main point.

The brunette blinked and chuckled awkwardly when he remembered that he had an urgent meeting to attend.

"You're right. Thanks for reminding me, I'll be back as soon as I can."

Suzaku let go of Lelouch's hand, but not before leaning in and planting a gentle kiss on the raven's cheek, making the boy blushed bright crimson and walked towards his white Knightmare. He put on the mask and started the systems. The Lancelot lifted off from the ground soundlessly, leaving behind a cloud of dust.

Lelouch watched as Lancelot disappeared into the horizon. He touched the spot on his cheek where the latter had kissed him. Strangely, he didn't dislike that physical contact at all.

"Good luck, Suzaku."

**A/N: There goes another chapter. I hope it was alright, it's shorter than the last 2 chapters but like I said, I'm having writer's block. Hopefully I can still update soon. But for now, reviews! (please?)**


	8. Preparations

**Hello, I've returned! Man, it's been a month since the last chapter. I'm really sorry for the wait, I blame the writer's block and I've been really busy with school work lately. Thank you for reviewing the last chapter. To 107602: Thank you for giving me ideas, I already started writing some for this chapter when you posted that so sorry for not using them. Well that's about all I've to say, let's begin!**

**Disclaimer: How can a high school student/crappy fanfic writer like me own Code Geass? **

**Chapter 8 – Preparations**

_**Britannia Imperial Palace**_

After parting with Lelouch on the island, Suzaku – now dressed as Zero – flew the Lancelot back to the newly-rebuilt Pendragon in Britannia. He landed the Knightmare inside the gigantic laboratory which was at the far south of the palace. As soon as he stepped out of the Knightmare, Suzaku was greeted by Cecile and Lloyd.

"Welcome back. We've been waiting for you, Su - I mean Zero." Cecile corrected herself when she realized Suzaku was dressed as the former terrorist.

"Thank you, I apologize for making you wait." Suzaku decided that since they have addressed him as Zero, he might as well play along with it.

"Not at all, you were right on the appointed time. Now, let's go, shall we?"

"Yeah, let's get this over with. The sooner it's done, the sooner I can get back to my Knightmares. And I'll be expecting a detailed report about yesterday from you to me by the end of the day, Zero." Lloyd called out as he turned and walked away from the two.

Cecile sighed and motioned Zero to follow her as she walked to catch up to Lloyd.

After walking past numerous grand corridors and hallways in the palace, the trio reached the chosen conference room on the top floor of the main building. Outside the room, a line of Britannian guards stood motionlessly. Two guards closest to the entrance pushed the door open for the three newest arrivals.

"Welcome, Earl Asplund, Miss Croomy and Zero. Now that you're all here, we can start the meeting." Prince Schneizel el Britannia stood up from the giant oval-shaped wooden table to greet said people.

Seated around the table were representatives from many countries and departments. At the far end was Prince Schneizel, Princess Nunnally, Princess Cornelia, Prime Minister Ohgi Kaname of Japan, Li Xingke and Rakshata Chawla. Lloyd and Cecile sat next to Rakshata while Zero was seated next to Nunnally and Ohgi.

"I'm sure you all know the reason for this emergency meeting. We're here regarding the latest invasions from the Russian Federation." Schneizel continued his speech once everyone was ready.

"Princess Cornelia and I have been interrogating a few survivors and witnesses from the attacks. Judging by their descriptions, it seems that the Russian Federation's Knightmares included the mass productions RPI-212 Vincent based on the Lancelot, some imperfect copy of Guren S.E.I.T.E.N. Eight Elements and Sutherlands, all of them include the latest technology such as Energy Wings, MVS and Blaze Luminous." He paused to show the diagrams of the said Knightmares.

"WHAT? How the hell did they get all that?" Lloyd and Rakshata called out and stood up at the same time. Both of them were enraged by the fact that some of their proudest inventions were stolen.

"Lloyd! Sit down and let Prince Schneizel continue." Cecile stood up to calm the glassed man down before he causes anymore embarrassments.

"These are very unfortunate news. Our top suspect is that there might've been spies among the newly-recruited troops who have stolen the blueprints and fled back to Russia. Now that they are able to make these Knightmare Frames, their technology can be compared to be equaled to Britannia's. This is the main reason why other countries have had no chance of survivor."

The room fell silent as everyone contemplated about the newly-given information.

"They might have the latest technology but we have more skilled pilots, if we have the help from the rest of the world in the U.F.N to back up Britannia, we can out-number them." Li Xingke spoke up as a representative for the United Federation of Nations.

"Xingke's right. I've also spoken to the members of the Black Knights, we're all ready under Zero's command." Ohgi said as he and everyone else looked at Zero, who'd been quiet the whole time.

"If that's what the Black Knights have decided then I'll be honored to be their leader."

"Very well, it seems we have our troops sorted out. Britannia will be led by Cornelia and myself while the Black Knights and U.F.N will be led by Zero, Xingke and Ohgi. Is that fine with everyone?" Schneizel waited for the representatives' opinions. He received approving nods and replies from the rest.

"Let's move on to the next issues, we should decide on what our first move will be. What are your opinions, Zero?"

Once again, all eyes fell on the Black Knight's leader as they waited for his decision.

"First of all, I think we should lay low and observe the Russian Federation closely to find out what they're capable of." Suzaku – known only as Zero to most people in the room – said, hoping that it was what Lelouch would have said.

"Haven't we already found that out from the damage they have caused to Korea?" Princess Cornelia questioned.

"Since there was very few to none survivors, we don't know the strength of their firepower or their battle strategies. The only way to actually know your enemy is to face them in actual combats before taking the initiative to attack."

Luckily for Suzaku, that seemed to make sense as most people nodded in agreement.

"So it's decided, our top priorities for now will be ensuring that we'll have enough Knightmare Frames as well as trained pilots in perfect conditions and offering as much help as we can to other countries. We'll also be following Russia's movements closely 24/7 to counter future attacks. As for the Knightmares: Miss Croomy, Miss Chawla and Earl Asplund will be responsible for that. And that is all for this meeting, I'd like to thank everyone for taking the time to come here. Our top chefs have prepared lunch in the dining room so I'd be honored if you will all stay for lunch before leaving." Prince Schneizel concluded the meeting and led everyone to the dining room.

Zero excused himself from the party because he was busy - which was not completely a lie - and left for his house. After a 15 minutes' walk from the palace, his house came into view. Actually, it was more like a mansion. Schneizel had wanted Zero to stay in the palace but he insisted in staying at a house in the city. In the end, they compromised with the mansion. Suzaku was about to open the front door when he noticed that it was on the floor. He sighed heavily when he remembered that Sayoko kicked it down a few days ago.

It was a miracle that none of his things were stolen. _I guess everyone thought that it'd be too ironic for a terrorist to be robbed. _ Suzaku let out another sigh and went to look for a hammer and nails to fix the door. After 45 minutes of trying with no result, he gave up. The brunette held the door up to the frame and kicked it back to place. Amazingly, that worked out better than trying to fix it manually. _That will have to do until I can find someone to fix it._

Finally feeling like he was alone, Suzaku took off the mask, gloves and cape and threw them onto the table since he was sweating buckets while underneath them. There were still layers of clothing left on which were not helping at all. _How did Lelouch manage to wear all these for hours? _

For the third time in the last hour, Suzaku sighed as he fell backwards onto the sofa. The brunette continued to lie still and think about the current situations while ignoring his growling stomach. After all the talk about wars and how nervous he was, he probably lost his appetite for the at least the rest of the day. _Will I be able to lead the Black Knights? Even though I've been Zero for 5 years, this is the first time I have to lead them into battle. There's no way that I can come up with plans like Lelouch could. Maybe I should go ask him for advice. I'll need an excuse to use the Lancelot though. Crap! That reminds me!_ Suzaku sprinted off the sofa as he realized he had to give Lloyd a report on an experiment he didn't even do before he could use his Knightmare again.

"What the hell am I going to write in there?" The brunette said out loud to himself as he waited for his laptop to load.

After making up about 90% of the report, Suzaku re-read it for the 5th time and printed it onto 3 pages of paper. _I hope this is even remotely believable. _With that thought, the brunette put on the rest of the Zero attire once again as he walked to the door with the report in one hand. Before he could leave the house, he had to face the now-completely-stuck door for a second time.

"Oh, come on! Is anything ever going to go right for me today?" Suzaku yelled out in frustration, finally having enough of his very bad day.

So for the next 10 minutes, Suzaku tried yanking the insulting door open with no success. Giving up on doing things the right way, he took a step back and kicked the piece of wood down, again. Without another look back, the brunette left his property and joined the seas of pedestrians while ignoring the weird looks they gave him.

After a few more twists and turns, he reached the laboratory part of the Imperial Palace. Suzaku went straight into Lloyd's office but only to find Cecile inside, sorting out the paperwork. Said woman looked up when she saw Zero entered the room.

"Oh, hello Zero. How may I help you?"

"Good afternoon, Miss Croomy. May I ask where Earl Asplund is?"

"He's with Rakshata in the storage rooms at the moment. If this is about the report on Lancelot then you don't have to worry about it, he was just kidding."

"Really?" Suzaku spoke in his normal voice, getting tired of trying to speak like Zero.

"Yes, we've already tested them before you suggested the idea."

"Oh." The brunette wasn't sure if he should be happy or mad about this.

"OK then. By the way, can I borrow the Lancelot again for awhile? It helps me think better when I'm alone somewhere far away from here."

"I'm sorry, Suzaku. I'm afraid you won't be able to use the Lancelot or any of the Knightmares here for some time. We have to keep them here for maintenance in preparation for the war."

"I see, I guess there's no helping it. I'll be going then. Thanks anyway, Cecile."

"See you later, Suzaku."

Suzaku left the palace and stood outside the gates, wondering what to do next. He decided to head down the beach since he didn't want to face the mess at home again just yet and he really did need sometime alone to think about the problems he's having.

The beach was not too far away from the city central but it was secluded enough at twilight. As he sat on a boulder near a few rock pools, the brunette watched the beautiful sunset as he became lost in thoughts. _Without the Knightmares, I guess asking Lelouch for advice is out of the question. All I can do now is try my best to lead the Black Knights. There are just so many things that can go wrong. What if I made a mistake? What if people became suspicious about Zero acting strange? How will I explain things then? God! It'd be so much easier if Lelouch was here. If only there was some way that I could contact him. Even though I know he's alive, I still can't tell Nunnally or anyone else since I already promised him. _Even after sitting and thinking until it was night time, Suzaku still couldn't come up with an answer to any of his troubles. Noticing that it was getting cold and dark, he went home.

/

_**That night, Moscow's Military Base, Russia**_

The dimly lighted control room was drowned in complete silence, the only sounds that could be heard were the tiny beeping from the computers and the occasional clicks from the keyboards. The endless silence was abruptly broken by the opening automatic doors. The two steel doors opened, a largely-built man wearing a Russian Military General walked in. The sound of his footsteps echoed around the room as he slowly approaches the wall with numerous screens showing scenes from all around the world.

"Good evening, gentlemen. I'm here for the daily report. Is there anything new that I should know about?" The man asked as he stood behind the row of technicians who were operating the computers.

"Yes, General Vladimir. About noon today, many representatives from various countries have gathered in Britannia's Imperial Palace in Pendragon. It seems like they were there for a meeting, sir."

The general looked thoughtful for awhile before his expression changed into a smirk.

"They probably decided to re-unite together to fight us. But, that won't help them a bit if I destroy the countries one by one first. Let's see, if Britannia is involved then Zero would be, too. Heh, that's just perfect, I love a good challenge."

Instead of being intimidated or anxious at the new development, General Vladimir seemed to be in a very good mood as he left the room. His next destination was a meeting for the next attack.

**A/N: And that's about it. I think my chapters are getting more and more pointless T-T. The Knightmare part was so hard to write, I had to research on the parts since I suck at those stuffs. Oh, the OC at the end doesn't really have any particular importance to the story, I just need someone to play the villain. So yeah, I'll try to update sooner next time. In the mean time, please reread and review! (By the way, have anyone played the CG R2 DS game? I really need help on how to get endings with that game T-T.)**


	9. The First Battle

**No, this cannot be true, it can't be a month already! Well, technically, February only has 28 days so it's not a month yet. Anyway, I'm really sorry that I took so long to update, I can't tell you enough how fast time flies. Thank you to all the people who reviewed, subscribed and favorited. I love all of you guys^^! Okay, that's enough rambling from me, let the chapter begins!**

**Disclaimer: Do I have to say this again?...Fine, I do not own Code Geass in any way.**

**Chapter 9 – The First Battle**

_**Russian National Military Base – Storage Cabin**_

The usual extremely quiet cabin was filled with the sounds of footsteps and guns clicking as the soldiers rushed around, grabbing essential equipments and weapons. After awhile, the silence returned as the cabin was deserted once again. The soldiers have all regrouped outside on the aircraft runway, they stood in orderly rows next to thousands of Knightmare Frames as they waited for their commander. An officer arrived and stood before the army. He was General Vladimir, Russia's best commanding officer. The proud general cleared his throat and began to speak into an amplifier.

"Alright everyone, it seems that we are ready. You should all know the agreed plan from last night's meeting. But just to be sure, I'll go over it once again briefly. You will be divided into 10 groups from A to J. Each group will have 2000 soldiers and one leader under my direct command. Group A, B and C will head to Greece at precisely 2:15 and Group D to J will depart to Switzerland 40 minutes after that. The group member list will be on the wall behind me. You have 30 minutes to make extra preparations before take-off. Have the best of luck, everyone."

"Yes, sir!"

The soldiers yelled out together in perfect sync and rushed out to do as they were instructed. General Vladimir smiled and went into the control room, moving onto the next step of the operation.

/

_**Earlier That Day – Britannia**_

Suzaku woke up from a night of hardly any sleep. After trying to get back to sleep without any luck, he decided to start the morning routine. After showering, brushing his teeth, eating breakfast, washing the dishes and even doing house chores for a whole morning, there was nothing left to do except standing and looking blankly at the walls. _I guess I'll go help Lloyd and Cecile with the Knightmares. _So the brunette changed into the suffocating Zero gears and left for the palace.

Zero arrived in the laboratory to find Lloyd Asplund yelling at the new mechanics working on the Lancelot.

"NO! You're not supposed to screw that part in at a 50-degree-angle, I said 52 degrees! And you! Be careful with that microchip! Ugh, can't any of you idiots do anything right?" The glassed scientist cried out and pulled his hair in frustration.

Suzaku sighed underneath the mask out of pure sympathy for the new employees. _Looks like I arrived just in time. _He cleared his throat loudly to get the others' attention and spoke.

"Excuse me, Earl Asplund, it seems like you're having some problems. Perhaps I can be of assistance?"

Lloyd's face lit up noticeably when he saw Zero.

"Of course, you can help me fix up these idiots' mistakes. Finally, someone who I can work with!"

"Lloyd! Don't say things like that to people! They're doing their best for you." Cecile said as she walked pass Lloyd to the mechanic.

"I'm really sorry about him. He's always like this so please, don't feel offended." Cecile smiled at the men and helped packing up their tools.

"Oh no, not at all. Earl Asplund was right, it was completely our fault. We have a lot to learn from the two of you." One of the mechanics said while the others nodded in agreement.

"*giggles* you guys are too modest. Well, since Zero is here, you should take a break. I've made lunch in the kitchen, please enjoy."

"Thank you, Miss Croomy."

The mechanics left the room, leaving the trio on their own. Since there was no need to hide himself, Suzaku removed his mask.

"Lloyd, you didn't have to be so hard on them, they're new here after all." Suzaku said for the sake of making a conversation and walked over to the Lancelot.

Lloyd scoffed as he stood next to the white Knightmare, waiting for the brunette.

"I don't need useless people around here and they could've left scratches on my precious Lancelot. Ugh, just thinking about it makes me want to kill them! And you, hurry up and get to work, this is no time for chit chats!"

"Yes, yes."

Suzaku sighed as he knelt down to get a screwdriver. Before he could even touch the Knightmare, the room was suddenly enveloped by a red light and the sounds of warning sirens echoed throughout the palace.

"Why are the emergency signals on?" Cecile wondered as she stood next to Lloyd.

"I don't know, but it must be something important. We better get to the control room, fast." Suzaku replied as he put on the mask and dashed out of the room with the other two behind him.

The trio arrived at the control room and saw Prince Schneizel working on the computers with the controllers.

"Prince Schneizel, what is this alarm about?" Zero questioned as he walked to the screen.

"We'd just received distress signals from Switzerland, it seems like the Russians had made their move and attacked Switzerland's northern border."

"WHAT? How did they get pass our satellites?"

"They'd hacked into the system with some sort of virus and directed the satellites to give false information. I apologize for not detecting this sooner, Zero."

Suzaku punched the nearest wall out of frustration as he thought about the choices he has.

"Now there's no time to call the U.F.N or the Black Knights. Schneizel, what is the number of troops that Britannia currently have?"

"At the moment, with the number of Knightmare Frames and aircrafts available, we have 10000."

"That will have to do, get all the soldiers to prepare immediately! We'll be heading for Switzerland in 10 minutes."

"Yes, My Lord!" Schneizel left to do as he was told. Zero, Lloyd and Cecile ran back to the laboratory to organize the Knightmares and other weapons.

Cecile called everyone who was vacant to help with the repairs. Miraculously, they were able to finish in 10 minutes. The soldiers arrived and got into their Knightmares and aircrafts. Soon after, the army was flying across the sky with Lancelot at the very front.

Suzaku left the Lancelot on autopilot as he started giving out instructions through the loudspeaker.

"Alright, this will be our plan. You'll split into 5 groups of 2000. When we arrive at the border line, split up and surround every spot of the border. If anyone finds the enemy, do NOT attack immediately, just report it back to me and I'll deal with it. Is that understood?"

"Yes, My Lord!"

Within 30 minutes, the army has reached Switzerland's northern border and surrounded the coast. Surprisingly, there was completely no trace of a battle at the site. Everyone stood still, as if expecting an ambush at any moment. Minutes past by and still nothing could be seen.

Suzaku stared at the Lancelot's radar carefully, expecting a sweep that would reveal the enemy. _This is strange, could it have been a false alarm? _Right at that moment, there was a flashing message on the screen right in front of him. It was an incoming call from Schneizel.

"Zero, we'd just obtained images of the Russian Federation attacking Greece. I suggest that you head there straight away." Schneizel said calmly with just a tiny hint of urgency in his voice.

"Damn it! So Switzerland was just a distraction, their real target is Greece! I'm on my way."

Suzaku cursed himself for falling to such a cheap trick and tried to think of the next action. _I have to move to Greece immediately, if it's not too late already. But what if they attack Switzerland when I'd left? Argh! If only the U.F.N or the Black Knights were here! _Without any other options, Suzaku gave his command.

"I'd just received news about an attack in Greece. This might have been just a distraction but I'm not about to take chances. Therefore, half of the groups will follow me to Greece while the rest will stay here. If there's any problem, contact me right away. Let's go!"

"Yes, My Lord!"

Half of the army flew behind the Lancelot as they headed for Greece at full speed. When they arrived, the scenery was exactly what they have expected. What used to be a vast grassland was now a barren wasteland of craters and flames. Fortunately, there was still time since the enemy was still up ahead.

Suzaku could feel anger rising inside him as he saw the ones who have destroyed world peace on the radar. _Judging by the look of it, there must be at least 10000 of them. Damn it! I'm out-numbered! _The brunette calmed himself down and thought carefully about all of his possible moves.

"Everyone! Split up and attack them from both sides. Be sure to keep a safe distance from them if possible. Now, move out!"

"Yes, My Lord!"

The soldiers divided into two groups and flew in to attack from left and right while Suzaku stayed in the middle. He slowly drew the two MVSs and flew straight at the enemy. Showers of bullets were aimed at the Lancelot but none was able to hit the target. Before they could blink, 10 Russian Sutherlands were destroyed by the White Knight.

Even with the Lancelot's incredible speed, the waves of Russian Knightmares seemed to be endless as they continued to attack the Britannian Army. Soon, both sides had been damaged greatly. Having the advantage of number since the start, Russia got the upper hand. Right after Suzaku has destroyed another Guren S.E.I.T.E.N, he received an incoming call from one of the soldiers in Switzerland.

"It's Zero here."

"Zero! Help! The enemy is attacking Switzerland as well, nearly 70% of our troops had been destroyed!" The soldier said urgently.

"WHAT?"

"Zero! 4 of our squadrons had been destroyed, we only have 2 left! What do we do know?" Another call came up, this time it was from a vice commander on the left side of the battlefield.

Before Suzaku could answer either of them, the cockpit vibrated from the impact as the Lancelot took a hard hit from one Knightmare's slash harken. _Argh! I can't fight and command at the same time! _When he looked up to see which one just hit him, Suzaku gasped as he instantly recognized what type of Knightmare it was. Before him – just about 20 meters away – was a Lancelot that was identical to his own, the only difference was that the other one was midnight black.

"So, you must be Zero, the leader of this little army." An unfamiliar voice spoke through the black Lancelot's speaker.

Suzaku could feel the Geass command flashing in his eyes as a warning when he heard the voice. _Whoever is controlling that Knightmare is dangerous, I better not let my guard down._

"Yes, I am Zero. And who are you?"

"I am Vladimir Ivanov, Russia's finest general and first in command of the Russian Army."

Suzaku was about to ask more questions but he was reminded of the fact that both of his armies were on the verge of total destruction. _I could stay and fight alone but Lancelot took a lot of damage and it only has 30 minutes worth of energy left. Looks like I don't have any other choice except backing down._

"All units available, retreat!" Zero reluctantly gave out the order as the Lancelot threw a giant smoke bomb into the sky, covering the whole battlefield.

"Halt! There's no need to chase them, we've already won." General Vladimir commanded as he watched the smoke clears out slowly.

"Heh, looks like I overestimated him. And I expected so much more from you, Zero."

The sky was filled with laughters and cheers from the Russian Army as they celebrated not just one but two easy victories.

/

_**Pendragon's Border Line – Britannia**_

Suzaku sat inside Lancelot's cockpit as he watched the remaining soldiers treated each others' injuries while waiting for the medics to arrive. The brunette started to punch the keypad in front of him continuously, hoping that it would ease his anger and frustration even just a little. _Damn it! I failed, I've let everyone down. I...can't do this after all. I'm sorry, Lelouch. _

**A/N: Another chapter has finished, I hope you guys liked it. I'll try to update soon next time. By the way, if you like the pairing Suzalulu, here's an AMV that I made earlier today (It's my first so bear with me): youtube .com/watch?v=LE8hXN8WbmI (just remove the spaces and it should work). Now, please do what you guys are so amazing at for this chapter! (I'll give you a hint: It starts with 're' and ends with 'view'!^^)**


	10. Regrets and Decisions

**Yes! Finally! I managed to finish and upload a chapter in less than a month and it feels great^^! Thank you to all the people who reviewed (wow, there was a lot!^^). It was amazing that you all got the same reactions towards the last chapter but that is totally normal since I got the same feelings too. Well, that was a lot of pointless ramblings from my part, sorry! Let's get going, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not and will never own Code Geass in any way, I'm only writing this for me and my beloved readers' amusement.  
**

**Chapter 10 – Regrets and Decisions**

_**Britannia**_

After a miserable night of helping cleaning up and treating the wounded soldiers, Suzaku managed to sleep for a couple of hours out of pure exhaustion and then waking up again at 3 in the morning. Since his appetite was completely lost, the brunette tried to distract himself by attempting to watch TV. That didn't last very long. He turned the device off after flicking through all the channels for a few seconds. It was always amazing how fast the medias can get the news updated. The battle was just some hours ago and it has been on every single channel around the world in every country.

Suzaku groaned and sunk further into his seat as the memories came back to him. _I must be a disappointment to everyone. _He really wanted to just hide in his house forever but he knew that was impossible. In a few minutes, he will have to go to the palace to help with fixing Knightmares, treating more injuries or attending meetings. Reluctantly, the brunette put on his disguise as Zero and left.

Luckily, it was very early morning so the streets were virtually deserted. Suzaku was able to get to the palace without coming in contact with a single person. He decided to head to the laboratory first. As he stepped into the building, the automatic lights flickered up, revealing an empty room. _ I guess it's too early for anyone to be here. _Suzaku was about to leave when the doors opened once again, revealing Cecile – who looked very surprised to see him.

"Suzaku, what are you doing here so early? You should be resting at home, I know that yesterday was definitely not one of your best days." Cecile gave the brunette a small smile and walked to the Knightmare Frames positioned at the far end of the room.

"It's alright, I can't be sleeping when there's so much happening here. Let me help you with something." Suzaku followed the scientist as he took off his mask and cape.

Cecile sighed and stopped on her track before turning around to speak to him.

"Suzaku, I know that you feel responsible for yesterday's outcome but there's no need for you to keep blaming yourself. You did the best you could. And just like you said the other day, you didn't know what you were up against. The Russian Federation took us all by surprise, anybody would have done the same thing as you did."

"No, Lelouch wouldn't have, ZERO wouldn't have. He would've been able to turn the tables around no matter what the odds were."

"You don't know that for sure, Suzaku. And you're not him, so stop comparing yourself to someone you're not. You're a great leader, you just weren't prepared, none of us were. Besides, you've done enough damage to them to keep them busy for awhile, so that battle wasn't completely fruitless."

Suzaku smiled slightly, he knew that she was trying her best to comfort him and he really was grateful for her effort.

"Thanks, Cecile. But I still have my duties as a leader to help out, so please give me some work to do in here."

"Okay, if it's what you want. You can start by helping me prepare the damages on the Lancelot."

"Sure."

"By the way, did you say another Lancelot caused these damages?"

"Yes, it looked exactly the same as my Lancelot Albion, only the color was pure black."

Cecile sighed and shook her head.

"Lloyd's not going to be happy when he hears that. Come on, let's get to work."

"OK."

Most of the day went by slowly. Suzaku stayed in the lab for the whole day, he worked on one Knightmare after another until he'd lost track of how many he had done. Just like Cecile has said, no one in the palace had said anything about Zero's failure. He had just finished fixing a Sutherland's hatch when Cecile called for him.

"Suzaku, you've been working all day long already, take a break. Here, this should help you get some energy back."

The blue-haired scientist handed him a cup of coffee and a plate of rice balls. From first-hand experience, the brunette knew that the inside was probably filled with either chocolate or jam.

"Thanks, Cecile. It's been awhile since I have had Japanese food."

Suzaku sat on top of a counter and bit on one of the rice balls. Just as he has suspected, he could taste the sweetness of strawberry jam immediately. It was too sweet for his taste but the brunette forced himself to eat the whole rice ball. He managed to finish the whole ball after a few coughs and lots of coffee.

Suzaku thanked Cecile once again and got back to work. He'd been working on another Sutherland for about half an hour when she came to him again. The only difference was that she looked quite annoyed this time around.

"I've already told you to stop working, Suzaku. You might be immortal but that doesn't mean you should be pushing yourself so hard." Cecile said in a very mother-like voice.

"I'm fine, Cecile. I can work for a lot longer than this."

"*sigh* you really are stubborn. How about this, you wanted to use the Lancelot the other day, didn't you?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well, since you've already done the maintenance needed on it, you can use it now if you want. I'm sure Lloyd wouldn't mind too much. Besides, whatever happened the last time you flew alone, it did wonders to you. I can't remember the last time you sounded so happy. And about time, too. I was starting to really worry about you."

Suzaku frowned a bit and started to feel guilty. _I didn't know that Cecile was so worried about me. Or maybe I just didn't care enough to notice it back then. _That was not wrong at all. After the Zero Requiem, he became extremely quiet and didn't talk to anyone unless he absolutely had to. Even when it have gotten to that point, there were never really any conversations, it were more like an exchange of words and that was it.

"Sorry, Cecile, I didn't mean to make you worry like that."

Cecile smiled and accepted his apology.

"It's perfectly alright, Suzaku. You've been through a lot. Now go, it's nearly evening already."

"Okay, thanks again, Cecile."

Suzaku waved goodbye to her and stepped into the Lancelot. Minutes later, the White Knight was soaring through the dimly-lighted sky.

/

_**Lelouch and C.C.'s Island**_

Suzaku landed the Lancelot in the same spot as last time and jumped out of the cockpit. _Let's see, so how am I going to find Lelouch's house now. _The brunette sighed and scratched the back of his head while looking around. He had had trouble getting from there to the beach before and now he had to look for the same path in the dark.

"Having fun?" A voice suddenly asked behind him, making him jumped.

"Woah! Who's there?" Suzaku raised his hands in attack stance, only to lower them down again when he realized it was Lelouch standing a few steps away. The brunette let out a sigh before continue speaking.

"Did you HAVE to do that? You scared the hell out of me!"

Lelouch smirked and walked over to the latter.

"Good, that is exactly what I wanted to do."

"Whatever, it wasn't funny. What are you doing out here anyway?"

The raven-haired boy seemed irritated when he heard the question.

"I'm just walking around while the house is being detoxicated."

"Detoxicated? Did something happen around here? Nuclear bomb? Chemical spills?...Insect repellent?"

"No! It's because of that WITCH! She ordered so many pizzas tonight that the whole house reeks of the smell of junk food!"

"That's it?"

"What do you mean 'that's it'? Just thinking about staying in a room full of that smell makes me sick!"

Suzaku stifled his chuckles as he looked at Lelouch – who was out of breath after all the yelling he just did.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Lelouch asked as an attempt to change the subject.

"Can't I just come to see you?"

"Why would you do that when there's a war? You should be busy with preparations and all."

Suzaku's smile fell as the memories came back to him. Lelouch noticed this and tensed up as well.

"Something happened, didn't it?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Yeah."

The two sat down on some rocks by the shore. The place was in complete silence except for the sound of waves as the waited for the brunette's story. Suzaku took a deep breath and began retelling the recent events. He told the raven about the details of the meetings and then the battle. After he'd finished, he expected Lelouch to yell at him for being an idiot or something like that but nothing along that line came out. Lelouch was silent for a moment longer before speaking.

"Cecile was right, there's no need for you to keep blaming yourself. This Vladimir, he sounds like a very formidable foe. Along with a great leader, the Russian Federation also have the most cutting edge technology in the world at the moment. All of these factors made them a very dangerous enemy." Lelouch paused for a few seconds and then continued his observation again.

"I should have seen this coming. Suzaku, you are an excellent fighter but you're not someone who can be a leader. If you look back since the start, you've always been underneath someone's commands. Therefore, it was very difficult for you to lead an entire army by yourself and fight as a soldier at the same time."

Suzaku nodded as he listened to the raven-haired boy. Even if he didn't put it in the nicest way possible, all of it was true.

"So what do you suggest I should do now?"

"What else? You just have to keep on trying, you'll get used to being a leader eventually."

"No, that will take too long. I can't afford to lose another battle. Although, there IS another way. Lelouch, come back to Britannia with me."

Lelouch looked completely surprised by the question before becoming very aggravated.

"Suzaku, I'd already told you. I am NOT coming back, and that's the end of that. Whatever happens to the world is no longer any of my business."

"Please, Lelouch. There's no other person in this world that can defeat Russia but you. Do it for Nunnally, for all the people we care about and for the rest of the world. I can't do this alone. Please, I need you, Lelouch."

Even after all he'd said, Suzaku still doubted that Lelouch would change his mind anytime soon. The stubborn boy turned away and looked out towards the sea without saying anything. The excruciating silence continued on. It seemed like an eternity before Lelouch finally broke the stillness with a sigh as he turned back to Suzaku. He looked straight into the vibrant emerald eyes for another long moment before speaking softly.

"Okay, I'll do it."

**A/N: And that's done! What you all had been waiting for has happened! The next chapter is going to be an interesting one. I can't believe that I'm at the chapter 10 milestone! And it's all thanks to you guys, I would never have been able to continue this story without your supports. So please keep on reading and of course, reviewing! **


	11. A Change For The Better

**Hi, I finally got this chapter done! I'm sorry for the wait but life has been chaotic for me. On the bright side, this is a really long chapter ^^. I have no idea how, it just turned out that way. A big thank you to everyone who reviewed, alerted, favorited,... In return, here's chapter 11!**

**Disclaimer: No, I still don't own Code Geass in anyway.**

**Chapter 11 – A Change for the Better**

After Lelouch had answered, Suzaku was momentarily stunned. He stared blankly at his companion for a few seconds before blinking rapidly to make sure that he wasn't dreaming.

"Um...can you repeat that again?" The brunette asked, still not believing that Lelouch had accepted his request.

"I said, I. Will. Do. It." Lelouch replied and emphasized each word with irritation this time. He never liked giving in to anything.

"Really?"

"Yes, now quit asking that already! And stop staring at me like that!"

Suzaku cleared his throat a few times and looked away when he saw that Lelouch was getting very agitated.

"Sorry about that, I just couldn't believe that you'll agree to do it."

"Shut up! I'll change my mind if you keep saying it like it's a bad thing!"

"Ok, Ok, I'm sorry."

"Hmph!"

Lelouch turned away and looked out to the sea. Not long after, he turned back again when he felt Suzaku's tanned arms wrapped around him, pulling him closer to the brunette's body. _Woah! I didn't hear him move closer at all. _Not knowing how to react, Lelouch just sat still while the latter continued holding him in a warm embrace.

"Thank you, Lelouch." Suzaku whispered into the raven's hair.

"I said that I will help you, but I still have things to make clear though."

"What? What's wrong?" Suzaku asked as he moved back immediately. Lelouch couldn't help but whine a little inwardly as he lost the comfortable warmth.

"Nothing's wrong, I just have a few conditions. First of all, I am not taking back the Zero mask."

"Why?"

"You've been Zero for years now. If I became Zero again, people will definitely notice the obvious change."

"Good point, I guess I can still remain as Zero but you'll have to be there with me."

"Agreed. Also, I'm not revealing myself to anyone under any conditions."

"Okay, you can disguise as a new recruit for the Black Knights or something."

As he looked at Lelouch, an idea suddenly popped into Suzaku's mind. It was an image of Lelouch cross-dressing in one of the Black Knights' female uniform. Intrigued by the idea, the continued to stare at the latter. Noticing this, Lelouch gave him a death glare as a warning.

"If you're even thinking about what I think you are, I'll make sure that you'll regret it for as long as you live."

Suzaku gulped and snapped out of his thoughts.

"Threat heard loud and clear, Lelouch. If it's what you want, you don't have to see anyone. Anything else, _Your Majesty_?"

Lelouch rolled his eyes but thought about the question seriously anyway.

"No, I think that's all, at least for now. Let's head back to the house, I need to tell C.C. about this."

"Sure thing, lead the way."

The two walked through the forest with Lelouch as the navigator. They reached the house in the matter of minutes, all the doors and windows of the place were widely opened. Suzaku walked into the room first, he was instantly knocked back by the overwhelming smell of cheese, ham and many other ingredients of a particular food.

"How MANY pizzas did C.C. buy?" He asked the raven with a look of complete astonishment on his face.

"See what I mean?"

"Yes, I'm sorry for doubting you before, Lelouch."

"Are you two just gonna stand there and talk? Come on in." C.C. interrupted them as she leaned against a wall close by. Lelouch glared darkly at her but didn't budge from his spot.

"If it wasn't for you, I'd be in there already."

"It's not my fault that you have something against the smell of pizza, even though it's such a nice aroma."

"How many did you buy anyway?" Suzaku asked out of curiosity.

"Let's see, I think it was about 20."

When she saw the look on the brunette's face, she explained in more details.

"What? It was a special offer and that was just enough for me to get another Cheese-kun."

"So how are you gonna eat all of them?"

"It's not that hard, I only have 2 left."

"Okay, can we stop talking about pizzas now? Since the scent had cleared up a bit already, let's go in." Leouch walked pass the other two and sat on the sofa. C.C. joined him shortly after.

"By the way, Lelouch, if you're uncomfortable with the smell in here, I suggest you don't go in your room."

The raven turned around and looked at her in disbelieve.

"You ate PIZZA in MY ROOM?"

"Well, on your bed to be exact."

"Oh God!" Lelouch yelled out and dashed into his room with surprisingly fast speed.

"You really love annoying him, don't you?" Suzaku asked as he sat on an armrest opposite C.C..

"Yes, it's second on my least of favorite things. Anyway, that's enough about me, you must've came here with a reason."

"Yeah, I came to ask Lelouch for advice about the war."

"So how did that go for you?"

Suzaku beamed and sighed happily.

"I managed to convince him to come back with me."

C.C. looked mildly impressed as she congratulated his accomplishment.

"Good job. I must say, that would be one of the hardest things to do. That boy is so stubborn."

"Have you two finished speaking behind my back?" A voice called out behind them. Lelouch glared as he walked over to join them.

"We didn't say much about you, Lelouch. How's your room?" Suzaku wondered when the latter sat down next to him. The raven continued to glare at the girl opposite them – who just shrugged and picked up another slice of pizza without saying a word.

"Thanks to that WITCH over there, it'll probably stink for another week! It's convenient that I'll be away from here for a few days at least."

"OK, so when are you planning to leave?"

"It's already quite dark outside and I still have things to prepare so we'll leave by tomorrow morning, is that fine with you?"

"Sure. C.C., are you coming, too?" Suzaku turned his attention to the girl on the other side of the room.

"Of course, I don't want to miss out on all the fun." C.C. smirked and finished off the last of the pizzas.

"We do need her to explain the reappearance of Shinkiro. She could say that she stole it to travel the world all these years and now that she's bored of it, she decided to give it back. Then she'll offer to assist Zero in the war." In just a few seconds, Lelouch had planned out perfect story .

"Alright, so we got the story straight. Let's see, so you'll be in the Lancelot with me tomorrow while C.C. will pilot Shinkiro."

"Yes, I need to get a disguise sorted out as well."

"I'll help."

Lelouch stood up and walked to his room with Suzaku following him. He looked through his closet while the latter sat on the bed.

"So what disguise are you planning? I know that cross-dressing is obivoulsy out of the question for you."

The raven shuddered at the idea and threw a shirt at the boy behind him as revenge for bringing up that subject.

"I'm just going to go with the one I used in Hawaii, with more appropriate clothes of course."

"Yeah, that one was pretty good. You got me fooled, until we bumped into each other that is. So are you going to use another name as well?"

"Just call me L.L. if anyone asks, which I doubt anyone will."

"Won't people grow suspicious about the similarity between you and C.C. if you just use your initials?"

"That's why I'll be avoiding contact with as many people as possible. Even if they suspected anything, I'll just say I'm her long lost cousin or something."

"Like anyone would actually believe that, it's like the oldest lie there is. Not to mention that the idea of you being related to C.C. is utterly impossible and ridiculous."

"Why?"

"You have nothing in common."

"I can always fake a different personality."

"You'll find it a complete waste of time and effort."

"True." Lelouch concluded the argument, much to Suzaku's surprise.

"Wait, that's it?"

"That's what?"

"You just let me won an argument. No wise cracks, no nothing?"

"Of course, there's no point in keeping up a pointless discussion like this."

"Now that was a surprise."

"What was a surprise? Oh, never mind, it doesn't matter. There's no need to stay in this stinking room any longer, let's get out of here." While carrying the disguise he picked out along with some other clothes, Lelouch walked out of the room as fast as he could with Suzaku tailing behind him.

"So where are you going to sleep in tonight?" The brunette asked as they sat in the living room again.

"I'm still deciding whether to leave tonight or tomorrow morning."

"If you leave tonight, you'll be able to get to my house without being seen."

"Don't you live in the Imperial Palace?"

"No, I chose to live alone in a house near there."

"Then it'll be best to leave tonight. Go find C.C. and tell her to get ready as well, I'm going to change."

"Ok."

The two split up and left to their jobs. While Lelouch was changing, Suzaku found C.C. in the kitchen –who had a bottle that looked like tomato sauce in her hand – and told her that they were about to leave. The girl shrugged nonchalantly and went to get Shinkro's key and some of her clothes. Minutes later, the two were sitting on the sofa, waiting for Lelouch. Said person walked into the room in his full disguise. Suzaku noticed that the attire did change in a few places.

"You didn't dye your hair like last time." The brunette pointed out.

"It's unnecessary since I won't be walking around that much. It's such a pain to wash the dye out afterwards."

"I see. So are you two ready?"

The other two immortals nodded and walked to the door where Suzaku was standing. The trio left the house and walked to their Knightmares. The boys parted with C.C. since Shinkiro was in the forest while Lancelot was out on the beach. When they got to the white Knightmare, Suzaku held out the rope which led to the cockpit for Lelouch to step on.

"Ladies' first." The brunette stood aside like a real gentleman would. The action only earned him a death glare.

"Geez, it's a joke, Lelouch."

"Very funny." Lelouch replied with unhidden sarcasm.

"Just get inside."

The violet-eyed boy sighed and got into the cockpit. When he was inside, Lelouch saw that the pilot's seat had occupied nearly all of the space in the hatch. There was not enough room for another passenger to stand or sit.

"Suzaku, what do we do now?" He turned around and asked the ascending brunette.

"Well, I definitely have to be the pilot since you have no experience in controlling the Lancelot. Shinkiro only have enough space for one person as well. And I don't think letting you sit outside either of these Knightmares is a good idea."

"Don't worry, both of us should be able to fit in here, in theory."

"I guess at least trying still beats doing nothing."

Suzaku got into the pilot's seat while Lelouch tried to find a place to lean against as the door closed and Lancelot prepared to take-off.

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay back there? Oh and I forgot to mention, you can't lean against anything since the walls are lined with other controls." The brunette explained when he saw that the latter was still looking for a spot to settle into.

"Great, that was something you were supposed to tell me BEFORE we got in."

"Sorry, it just slipped from my mind at that moment. Let's just forget about that, come over here." Suzaku signaled the raven to move over to the pilot's seat. The act earned him a very puzzled look.

"Why?"

"We can share a seat. Don't worry, I can still control the Lancelot."

Lelouch sighed and walked over to the brunette, knowing that he'd just lost ANOTHER argument in the same day.

"So how are we suppose to sit together in just one seat?...Woah!" He received an answer to the question when Suzaku unexpectedly pulled him by the arm onto his lap.

"Wh-what are you doing?" The raven-haired boy demanded quite weakly as he felt the latter's strong arm around his waist.

"Relax, Lelouch. This is the only safe way I can think of so that we can share a seat."

Lelouch blushed furiously but made no attempt to move away as he sat on the brunette's legs.

"Hey, what's taking you two so long to take-off? Don't tell me you guys are making out in there." A voice suddenly came out from the speaker as an image appeared on the screen, making the boys jump. The image shown was Shinkiro's current pilot, C.C..

"No! We just had some trouble with the seating arrangements since SOMEBODY didn't tell me about everything in this cockpit. Suzaku, hurry up!" Lelouch shouted as he continuously glowered at the screen and Lancelot's pilot.

"Yes, yes." Suzaku pressed a few buttons in front of him and the Lancelot departed with Shinkiro following shortly after.

/

_**Pendragon, Britannia**_

After a long flight from the island, Shinkiro and Lancelot landed in the Imperial Palace's massive laboratory. Suzaku jumped out of his Knightmare and looked around the room.

"Coast's clear, Lelouch." He called out to the boy in the cockpit behind him.

"There's no need to make it sound like we'd just robbed a bank or something." Lelouch stated as he climbed down and walked to where the latter was, C.C. also regrouped with them after a few seconds. Suddenly, the automatic doors near them opened as Lloyd and Cecile walked in.

"Oh, Suzaku, you're back! It's quite late though. Is that...C.C. behind you? And who's this?" Cecile asked as she looked at the two people behind the brunette.

_Oh, crap! Why did they have to come in right now? _Suzaku gulped as he turned to look at the dark-haired immortal at the back of him. As expected, he was met with a death glare that sent chills down his spine.

"It's okay, I'm sure Lloyd and Cecile can keep this a secret." He whispered in an attempt to save himself.

Lelouch remained silent as he glanced back and forth between the two scientists. Finally, after a lot of consideration, he sighed in submission.

"I guess there's no helping it."

He shook his head slowly and removed his sunglasses and hat. Cecile gasped in complete bewilderment while Lloyd seemed very intrigued as they instantly recognized the person before them.

"Your-Your Majesty? But...how?" The blue-haired woman asked softly as if she was still wasn't sure how to react.

"It's a long story, one that have no importance whatsoever in the present. And don't call me that, I'm not the emperor anymore, it's L.L." Lelouch replied coldly.

"Yes, of course. My apologies, um...L.L."

"Ok, Ok, we all met each other, wonderful. Now, is that Rakshata's Shinkiro next to my Lancelot Albion over there?" Lloyd disrupted the talk as he practically danced on the spot in excitement.

"Yes, C.C.'s been...joy-riding it all these times."

"I see, now if you don't mind, I have a Knightmare to check out."

The glassed man walked away from the group and towards Lelouch's Knightmare.

"Lloyd, no! You should wait for Rakshata first. Um, it's really wonderful to see you two again, L.L. and C.C.. Please excuse me but I have to stop Lloyd before he takes Shinkiro apart. I'll see you later everyone." Cecile bowed to the trio and ran after Lloyd.

"Well, I guess we're done here, let's go." Suzaku put on the Zero mask that he left behind in the room earlier and walked out with Lelouch and C.C. behind him.

"You two go ahead, I'm going to pick up a late snack." C.C. declared as she looked at a Pizza Hut shop nearby.

"WHAT? It's 2:00 AM right now! Plus, how can you be hungry after all those pizzas before?" Lelouch frowned at her in disbelieve.

"I ate those hours ago and flying here made me hungry again."

"But how are you going to get to my house by yourself?" Suzaku asked the green-haired girl.

"Oh please, just give me the address and I'll be fine." C.C. rolled her eyes and handed Suzaku a piece of paper and a pen. The latter wrote his address and returned the paper to her.

"You planned this, didn't you?" Lelouch gave her a dark look as he waited in annoyance.

"What makee you think I would do that?"

"Why else would you be carrying paper and pen with you?"

"Maybe I like to take notes of things on the way here. OK, I'll see you boys later." The witch smirked and walked to the shop's direction.

"*sigh* Suzaku, we should get going."

The two walked in silence for a few more blocks and reached their destination.

"Nice house, it's cleaner than I expected." Lelouch said after he'd looked around the living room for a few seconds.

"I'll take that as a compliment. There's a couple of spare rooms opposite the master bedroom, you can take whichever you like and C.C. will take the other one." Suzaku pointed out the rooms after he removed his mask and cape.

"Ow!" The brunette suddenly yelled out in pain, surprising both of them. When they looked at the source of the problem, they saw Arthur the cat hovering above the ground with two of Suzaku's gloved fingers in his mouth.

"You still kept him after all these times?" Lelouch asked as he patted Arthur a few times which caused the cat to let go of his owner's fingers.

"I couldn't just let him live out on the streets after Zero Requiem." Suzaku watched as the raven picked the black feline up and scratched underneath its neck. The cat purred happily in response and licked the boy's hand. When his owner tried to mimic Lelouch's action, he received warning hisses instead.

"And he still doesn't like you?"

"Pretty much, and I forgot to feed him before I left today. I'm gonna get him some food before he thinks I'm breakfast again. You should start getting your things sorted out."

"Yeah, I'll do that." Lelouch put Arthur down and left with his things into one of the spare bedrooms while Suzaku went into the kitchen.

After preparing a full meal for Arthur, Suzaku left the kitchen and walked to the room the latter had chosen.

"Need any help?" He offered as he watched Lelouch stacked his clothes into the closet.

"No, I'm finished anyway." The boy answered and walked out of the room with Suzaku.

"Hey, Lelouch?"

"Yes?"

The two were back in the living room again when Lelouch heard his name called. He turned around to look at the brunette. Said boy was suddenly quiet with a solemn expression on his face as he gradually approached him.

"Can I ask you a question?" Suzaku asked as he stood opposite Lelouch.

"Sure, although normally you'd just asked."

The brunette knelt down out of nowhere. He was in the stance which everyone used when in front of a royalty or in a knighting ceremony.

"Will you allow me to be your knight once again?"

Lelouch frowned at the question as if Suzaku had lost his mind.

"Why would you want to become my knight? I'm not even the emperor anymore."

"It doesn't matter if you're the emperor or not, I want to be your knight – Lelouch's knight. I just want to be the one to stand by your side to protect you, and this time I promise to make things right between us."

Lelouch didn't answer for a few minutes, he could see that the latter was dead serious about this matter. _I guess there's really no harm in this._

"Very well, but I'm not doing the official ceremonies or anything like that."

"That's fine with me." Suzaku looked up at Lelouch in anticipation.

"Alright, Suzaku Kururugi, will you accept the responsibilities of knighthood?"

"Yes."

"Will you pledge yourself to be my sword and shield?"

"Yes."

"Then, you are now my knight."

Suzaku smiled cheerfully as if that was all he'd ever wanted. Without standing up from his position, he took one of the raven's hands in his right hand and gently placed a kiss on it.

"Thank you so much, Lelouch." The brunette moved back to look at the latter lovingly.

The two continued to stay still in their spots without saying another word. Then, the stillness was broken by the sound of the front door opening as C.C. stepped into the house. She looked at the scene before her for a few seconds and then made a shocked face.

"Oh my God! Don't tell me I'd just missed Suzaku's proposal!" The witch called out with mock disappointment in her voice.

"WHAT? No!" Lelouch shouted and pulled back his hand while Suzaku stood up. The two red-faced boys watched as C.C. sat down on the couch near them.

"Are you sure? You don't have to keep it a secret from me."

"I told you, nothing along that line happened between Suzaku and I!"

"Oh, so what was that about?"

"I was knighting Suzaku as he requested."

"Interesting. Well, there's still quite some time until morning so we should all get some sleep. It wouldn't do any good if Lelouch fainted by mid day." C.C. stood up from her seat and walked towards a room.

"I'm not that weak!"

"Whatever you say, boy. Good night." The witch closed the door, ending the chat between them.

"That witch, why does she have to make such crazy statements? I'm gonna sleep for a while, dealing with her is always so exhausting. Good night, Suzaku."

"'night, and thanks again, Lelouch." The brunette called out as he watched the latter leaving the room.

"You're welcome." Lelouch smiled at him and closed the room's door.

Suzaku sighed contently and left to his room. For the first time in years, he was actually looking forward to the next day. Finally some things were going the right way for him.

**A/N: Done! I hope the chapter was alright. I guess this chapter can be something like the calm before storm (or something like that). Ugh, I feel another writer's block coming, no! Hopefully I'll update again in the near future. See ya!**


	12. Deja Vu

**Yes, as you can see, I'm still alive and well. I know I probably said this so many times that it lost all of its meaning but I'm really, really, REALLY sorry for the (very) late update. I do have a perfectly reasonable excuse for it, though. For the first weeks I'd had the worse writer's block in the history of my (still short) fanfic-writing career and when I finally know what to write, I was drowning in exams and homework. But, I finally got this very long chapter finished, edited and posted for you guys even though it took awhile. And a million thanks to everyone who took the time to read, alerted, favorited and reviewed, I can't tell you enough how awesome it is to receive them *hugs and kisses to everyone*. Okay, I don't know why I'm babbling so much today – maybe I'm high on sugar or something – but it's great to be back. Well, sorry for the long note, enjoy!**

**Disclaimers: Of course I own Code Geass, IN MY DREAMS!**

**Chapter 12 – Déjà vu **

_**Morning, Suzaku's bedroom**_

It was early morning, just 5 hours after Suzaku had got home from the island. His peaceful and much-needed sleep was brought to an end by an electronic ringing noise. Suzaku groaned and muffled his ears with his pillows. The annoying noise continued on endlessly. Finally having enough of the noise, the brunette grunted in frustration and rolled over to turn off what he assumed was the source of the noise – his alarm clock.

BAM! Thanks to his half-asleep state, Suzaku managed to roll off the left side of his bed and fell face-first on the marble floor. _Ouch, talk about waking up on the wrong side of the bed! Why do I keep falling off beds these days?_ Finally awaken, he rubbed his forehead in pain while looking around the room. When his eyes landed on the nightstand on the OTHER side of the bed, he finally realized that the noise earlier was his phone ringing. The ringtone had stopped and the call was directed to voice mail. Soon enough, the message began to play aloud.

"Hey, Suzaku, it's Cecile. Sorry for calling you so early in the morning but there's going to be a meeting at 9. Lloyd and I will be waiting for you at the laboratory, see you later!" The messaged ended with a final 'beep'.

_More meetings? I guess I should've seen that coming. _Without another look at the phone, Suzaku stood up and headed for the living room. _I wonder if C.C. and Lelouch are awake yet. _His silent question was answered when he saw the lights in the living room and the sounds from the TV. Lying on the sofa was the green-haired immortal, who was watching the screen in front of her without much interest.

"Good morning, C.C."

"'Morning." The girl replied in acknowledgement without even looking at the latter.

"Is Lelouch up yet?"

"He's in the kitchen making breakfast."

"Oh, and I guess that you're just waiting for the food?"

"Of course, what else is there to do?"

"*sigh* I'm gonna go help him."

"Have fun."

Suzaku left the living room and went into the kitchen where the delicious smell of omelet filled the air. At the front of the stove was Lelouch who was frying omelets while flipping pancakes at the same time.

"Lelouch, you're up early."

"Not really, I'm used to waking up around this time. By the way, what was all the noise before about?"

"I just had an accident with my phone."

Lelouch turned around with one of his eyebrows raised.

"How did you have an accident with a phone?"

The brunette shrugged like it was no big deal and answered. "Things happen. Oh, Cecile called me. There's going to be meetings in 2 hours."

"That shouldn't be a surprise, it's about time to plan the next move. There's no doubt that Russia's doing the exact same thing by now. Let's eat breakfast first and we'll get going."

"Yeah, sounds good."

Lelouch turned off the stove and left the kitchen with dishes of food in hand. C.C. and Suzaku joined him at the dining table. The two dug into their breakfasts whole-heartedly while the raven drank coffee.

"Wow, this is really good!" Suzaku said after swallowing a mouthful of omelet.

"These were all I could make thanks to the limited supply around the kitchen."

"Sorry, I'm not the type to go shopping often. Most of my foods are instant stuff."

"Yes, I noticed." Lelouch looked annoyed and disgusted about the fact that someone would eat instant nutrition-less foods on a daily basis.

"By the way, what are your plans for the meetings?" The brunette changed the subject to more important matters than his diet.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to the meetings with me?"

"Going to them with you physically won't be the best idea. I would prefer to just listen to the conversations somewhere far away from the actual meeting."

"So you're basically just gonna eavesdrops on us while we talk."

"I suppose you can put it that way."

"C.C., you've been really quiet, any ideas?" The boys turned to the green-haired immortal – who just shrugged much to their dismay.

"How about we ask Cecile and Lloyd when we meet up with them later? They might have equipments to help us."

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Since the secret is already out, we might as well use their aid." Lelouch decided after a moment of consideration.

"OK then, let's get going."

The trio stood up when they'd finished breakfast and went to their respective rooms. They met up half an hour later in the living room in their full disguises.

"Looks like we have to walk to the palace, which hopefully might not attract TOO much attention." Suzaku - or rather Zero – said through his mask.

"You must be joking, don't you have a car?" L.L. retorted in disbelief.

"No, I died when I was 18, remember? And do you think I had time for driving tests when I was the Knight of Seven?"

"You can pilot a giant Knightmare Frame and you're worried about not having a driving license?"

"Whatever, are we gonna go or stand here and argue pointlessly?" The brunette chuckled victoriously as the latter walked away without saying another word.

Surprisingly, the three got to the Imperial Palace without drawing much attention – thanks to Suzaku's shortcuts which would have been very dark alleys at night. They arrived at the laboratory with 20 minutes to spare. In the room, Lloyd and Cecile had just finished eating and were working on some mechanisms.

"Oh, you're early today, Zero. Good morning, L.L. and C.C.." Cecile smiled and greeted them as they walked into the room.

"Morning, Cecile. There's something I need you and Lloyd to help with." Suzaku explained as he took off his mask.

"What is it?" Cecile stared at him curiously while Lloyd turned around to them.

"Do you have anything like earphones and miniature cameras? Le-I mean L.L. wanted to observe the meeting but he's not coming with me."

The two scientists thought for a while before the blue-haired woman answered.

"You've came to the right place. Although, you actually won't need any of those equipments since Lloyd, Rakshata – who'll be here soon – and I are not attending today so we're allowed to watch through the surveillance cameras. We're setting them up right now." She pointed to the man at the controllers.

"That's just perfect then. So, L.L. and C.C. will be staying here while I'll be in the conference room."

"Excuse me, Miss Croomy. If it's possible, I'd like to use the earphones to assist Suzaku." L.L. joined the conversation.

"Why?" Suzaku asked with a puzzled expression.

"So I can communicate with you during the meeting in case you don't know what to say, what else?"

"Oh right, I totally forgot about that." The brunette smiled sheepishly.

"OK, I'll go get the stuff for you guys." Cecile left to her office.

"*sigh* you really are bad at planning."

"Whatever. Let's go and set things up then." Suzaku said when Cecile came back and handed them the devices.

The equipments didn't take much time to set up. Less than 10 minutes later, Suzaku took one of the earpieces and microphones into a separate room to test them out.

"So, can you hear me?" Lelouch's voice came out of the earpiece.

"Yes, perfectly." The brunette spoke into the well-hidden microphone.

"Okay, I guess we're done with the preparations. You can come back in now."

Suzaku followed the latter's instructions and returned to the room. He waited there with the rest of the party until it was time to go to the meeting. With the knowledge that Lelouch was with him, he didn't feel as tense as the last time. The two guards opened the doors for him to enter the conference room as he stood in front of the doors. Inside, everyone was positioned in the exact same spots as the last meeting, except some people were not attending. Not having much choice, Zero sat down next to Princess Cornelia. As soon as the final guest had arrived, the meeting began.

"Welcome back, everyone. As you already know, this meeting will be about our encounters with the Russian Federation." Schneizel stood up and declared.

"Firstly, let us recap about the latest battle at Greece. Thanks to this battle, we were able to see what Russia is capable of in both military powers and strategies. The Britannian Army led by Zero was sent out to defend as soon as we'd received the news of an invasion. Unfortunately, they were guided to Switzerland by a false alarm caused by Russia. With valuable time wasted, Greece was quickly claimed by the Russian Federation. When Zero arrived with his army, they were greatly out-numbered. Despite the odds, Zero was able to destroy a large portion of the enemy's army before he was forced to retreat. It has taken us a couple of days to recover from the damage but most of the Britannian Army is now ready for battle. Thanks to Zero's amazing effort, the Russians had also been held back for the same period of time." Schneizel paused and applauded along with everyone else.

"It's still too early to celebrate. Since our troops are ready this time, we should pay back what they'd done to Britannia and the other countries!" Princess Cornelia suggested commandingly.

"Are you suggesting that we attack Russia's homeland, Cornelia?" Schneizel asked.

"Yes, with the UFN and the Black Knights, we'll have plenty of soldiers."

"Princess Cornelia, please wait for a minute. Are you sure that'll be the best thing to do? Russia's borderlines are heavily guarded, they'll have more than enough time to prepare for our attack. Flying head-on into the enemy's territory isn't the wisest thing to do." Xingke joined into the discussion.

"So you're saying we should just sit and wait as they keep on destroying one nation after the other?" The Britannian princess turned around and questioned him.

"Yes, we'll wait until they'd sent the armies to the next invasion and then attack their homeland."

"And you don't think they'll have back-up troops there?"

"Of course they will but the number will be nowhere near enough to defend against our combined army."

"Even so, we'll lose god knows how many more countries during that operation."

Murmurs filled the room as everyone discussed about the two available options.

"Suzaku, you should agree with Cornelia." Lelouch's voice came out of the device on Suzaku's ear, almost making him jump out of the seat.

"Cornelia's strategy might be risky but the probability of us winning the war later on will be higher. If we succeed, a very high percentage of Russia's troops will be annihilated. With Xingke's plan, it's true that we'll be able to conquer the homeland very easily but more countries will be underneath Russia's control. When they'd retrieved enough troops in all military bases in those places, a surprise attack from multiple directions would have devastating effects. Even Britannia might not be able to withstand it." Lelouch continued to explain.

_Wow, he really is a master at calculations._ Zero gave his point of view to the representatives according to the latter's words. When he'd finished, everyone stared in awe for a few seconds before nodding in agreement. Cornelia smirked a little at her victory against Xingke. With what Zero had said, there was definitely no room for further arguments.

"So it seems that we'd decided on our next act, thank you very much for your insightful opinion, Zero. Having said that, I believe we still have some final preparations and training to do before launching the attack. I suggest we rendezvous here once again in 3 days. That should be enough time for us to get ready."

"Yes, that sounds like a good plan. And Zero, the Black Knights will be holding a meeting in Japan in one hour. Gino and Kallen would also like you to attend a few training sessions with them." Ohgi spoke up for the first time in this meeting.

"I'll be there." Zero answered shortly with a nod in his direction.

Alright, looks like everyone here have business to attend to. Since we already have things cleared out, I won't waste anymore of your time. Thank you very much for coming here, please take care and I'll see you all again in 3 days." Schneizel stood up and concluded another meeting.

Zero was making his way out of the room when he heard his name called. When he turned around, he saw Princess Nunnally and Sayoko approaching him.

"Hello, it's nice to see you again, Your Highness."

"Likewise. Although, I haven't seen you around since we went to Hawaii days ago." Nunnally said and smiled kindly at him.

Suzaku felt the sense of guilt rising within him. Because of all the recent chaos, he hadn't been able to visit or check up on her.

"My apologies, Princess. I had a lot of jobs to take care of lately and time was not on my side."

"It's alright, I completely understand. As a leader, you have lots of duties but please don't push yourself too hard."

"I won't. It's been a pleasure talking to you but I'm afraid I must be on my way. I'll see you again as soon as I'm free."

"Yes, of course. I shouldn't keep you here any longer." The two exchanged a few more words before going their separate ways.

Suzaku headed back to the laboratory to get ready for his trip to Japan. Inside the room, he could only see Lelouch waiting at the controllers.

"Where are the others?" He asked the latter, referring to C.C., Lloyd, Cecile and Rakshata.

"They're on the run-way outside with the Knightmares." The boy answered shortly, Suzaku immediately noticed that he seemed sad about something.

"You're thinking about Nunnally, aren't you?" He knew he hit the mark when Lelouch slowly nodded.

"It's been years since I've seen her, she grew a lot." The latter said quietly.

"Well, she IS 18 now."

"She looked like she doesn't need me anymore."

"Are you kidding? She still misses you a lot, most of the things she ever talks about is you. It was nearly a month after Zero Requiem when she finally accepted the fact that you were gone." Lelouch flinched a little in guilt when he heard how hard it was for his sister to cope with his death.

"She's even closer to you now than she was before." He commented after a few seconds of silence.

"Since you weren't here, I was the only one she had other than Schneizel and Cornelia. But even I or either of them can't replace you. Lelouch, will you promise me something?"

"That depends on what it is."

"When this war is finished, please reveal yourself to Nunnally. I know that you want to see her, just as much as she wants to see you."

"I…I don't know if I should."

"Of course you should. Come on, there's nothing stopping you. And don't give me some crap like you being alive is a bad thing. If I can forgive you for all you've done, you think SHE can't?" For the first time in a very long time, Lelouch was speechless.

"I'll think about it. Let's worry about the tasks at hand first, you have a meeting with the Black Knights in less than an hour." He decided and quickly changed the subject. Suzaku groaned inwardly and gave up, knowing that he shouldn't push the other boy too much.

"Alright, so are you coming with me to Japan?"

"Yes, I might as well."

"How are we going to communicate with each other during the meeting?"

"You won't need my help in this one. I've been trying to think of any important issues that the Black Knights would want to talk about and I couldn't find one. Most problems had been sorted out here in Britannia so they probably just want you to decide on minor things such as supplies and new recruits."

"I guess that makes sense. And I assume that you're not sitting in the Lancelot with me again."

"No, there's been a change of plans. C.C. will be piloting her own Knightmare while I'll be in Shinkiro."

"You're not worried that people will be suspicious of the fact that you look similar to Lelouch AND you're the pilot of the same Knightmare?"

"If anyone brings that up, we'll just deny it until the end. Besides, it's been more than 5 years like you said. I doubt anyone would remember much details about me."

"Well, we should get going so we'll make it there in time."

The two finally walked together to the runway where the others were waiting. They thanked Lloyd and Cecile and quickly greeted Rakshata before getting into their Knightmare Frames which were next to C.C.'s pink Lancelot Frontier. After the take-off checklists were completed, the three Knightmares soared through the sky towards Japan.

/

_**Near the Order of the Black Knights' Headquarters, Japan**_

The flight from Britannia to Japan took nearly one hour, making the trio almost late for their meeting with the Black Knights. Fortunately, Suzaku had been to the Headquarters a few times so he knew exactly where it was. Since the Order of the Black Knights was no longer a group of terrorists but heroes of Japan, there was no need for them to work in complete secrecy. About eight months after Zero Requiem, a building for them was built to act as training and meeting place in Tokyo. Coincidentally, the building's location was just a few blocks away from Ashford Academy.

As they flew across Tokyo, Lelouch smiled to himself as he noticed that the destroyed ghettos where the Japanese were forced to live in were reconstructed to grand neighborhoods and suburbs. They were close their destination when Lelouch saw Ashford Academy came into view. It was a place where he'd had so many memories and where he had met people who actually thought of him as a close friend. He quickly shook himself out of the though and tried to focus on the current matters.

"Hey, Suzaku. Is there a particular reason why the Black Knights' Headquarters are so close to Ashford?" He asked the Lancelot's pilot flying on his right side.

"Not really, they just wanted a really big place and it just happened to be here."

"I see, so is this the place?"

"Yeah, as you can see, the actual main building only takes up about 20% of the place. The rest of the site is the training ground for Knightmare pilots."

"That's a good idea, having a place for pilots to practice with each other."

"I guess, but the amount of time and effort it takes to maintain the field everyday after training is massive. Here, I'll show you where to land."

The Lancelot sped up and led the two other Knightmare Frames to the back of the building where the large automatic doors opened for them to enter. They landed at the end of a row of other gigantic robots and walked back to the entrance. As he was walking, Suzaku saw the Guren SEITEN and Tristan Divider next to each other near the door. _So Kallen and Gino are here as well_. He glanced back at Lelouch and saw that he was thinking the same thing. They quickly made their way to the conference room, hoping that they weren't late for the meeting. Soon enough, they were greeted by Ohgi and some other Black Knights.

"It's good to see you again, Zero. Thank you for coming despite my short notice." Ohgi said as he and Zero walked to the long table.

"It's been a while, Zero." Another voice was heard from the right side of the room. When Zero turned to that direction, He could see Kallen and Gino coming his way. Kallen didn't change much over the years except for the fact that her hair was slightly longer and she looked more mature.

"Yes, I haven't seen you in a long time, Kallen. And you as well, Lord Weinberg." Zero said to the two Knightmare pilots. The Black Knights' Ace looked like she was about to say something but stopped when she noticed C.C. and a mysterious person behind the masked leader.

"What are you doing here, C.C.?" She looked very surprised to see the green-haired girl and then glanced back and forth between the three people suspiciously.

"Is it strange for me to be here?" C.C. monotonously answered the question with one of her own.

"Yes, after you suddenly disappeared with no reason for 5 years! And who's that next to you?"

"He's L.L."

"L.L.?" Kallen raised an eyebrow at the odd name and its similarity to the witch's name.

"Yes, he's a good friend of mine. Since there wasn't any reason for me to stay after Lelouch's death, I left to visit dear L.L. here for a change."

The redhead continued to stare at C.C. like she wasn't buying her story. Suzaku decided that it was time to step in and break the tension between them.

"Kallen, there's absolutely nothing for you to worry about. I can assure you that C.C. and L.L. are our allies and we will need all the help we can get for the upcoming war."

"I'm sure we can trust Zero and his comrades, Kallen. Now, we shouldn't keep the others waiting any longer." Ohgi reminded them from the sideline as he waited by the door.

Kallen nodded at Ohgi and entered with one last glance at C.C. and L.L.. Suzaku let out a sigh of relief inside the mask and followed her with the two immortals behind him. Just as Lelouch predicted, the meeting wasn't as serious as he thought. C.C. and L.L. leaned against a wall nearby while he sat at the table with Ohgi and a few more people. They mainly discussed about new recruits, getting in contacts with some Black Knights who were away, trainings and supplies. Most of the issues were already taken care of by Ohgi so Zero only needed to contribute some ideas and opinions and then the meeting was over. When Zero left the table, Gino walked over to him.

"Zero, Kallen wants you to join us in our training in a few minutes. C.C. and L.L. are also welcome to join us if they wish to."

"Thank you for the invitation, we'll be there."

"Great, I'll let her know. We'll be waiting for you on the training course." The blonde grinned and left with a wave. After parting with Gino, the three went back to their Knightmares to get ready.

"So you ARE participating in the training, right?" Suzaku asked as they stopped in front of the giant robots.

"Sure, why not? It's been a while since I last use Shinkiro in combat." Lelouch replied and leaned against his Knightmare.

"You two can fight, I'll just sit out and watch so the numbers will be even." C.C. answered as she sat next to the latter.

"OK then, we shouldn't keep Kallen and Gino waiting."

All three got into their own Knightmare Frames and flew out onto the training ground. The place was actually just an empty grassland large enough for Knightmares to battle each other without worrying about causing any damage to the city. The Lancelot Albion and Shinkiro landed at the entrance next to Guren and Tristan while C.C.'s Lancelot Frontier set down nearby.

"C.C.'s not training with us?" Kallen asked from inside the Guren SEITEN.

"No, she stepped out so the numbers will be even." L.L. answered.

"Alright, let's get this started. And don't expect us to go easy on you two."

The four Knightmares split into two pairs on opposite sides and the battle begun. Guren immediately charged straight to the enemies with Tristan following. The Lancelot was separated into a fight with Guren while Shinkiro was kept occupied by Tristan. The battle continued back and forth as they rapidly changed opponents and techniques. By the end of the fight which lasted for two hours, all four Knightmares were heavily damaged so they decided to call it a draw.

"Lloyd and Rakshata are so going to kill us for this." Gino shuddered as he looked at his Tristan which had at least 60% of its body in pieces.

"Yeah, we might have overdone it." Kallen agreed and sighed from next to the completely scratched and extremely damaged Guren.

"That was a tough battle, you two are still skillful pilots like always." Zero commented and walked over to the two with C.C. and L.L. behind him.

"You, too. And L.L., you're very good at controlling Shinkiro." Kallen said as she stared at L.L..

"Thank you, C.C. taught me and I had nearly five years of training prior to this."

"You know, I had never actually seen C.C. piloting Shinkiro. She was in Gawain a couple of times but not Shinkiro."

The temperature seemed to have suddenly dropped dramatically as it was clear that the Black Knights' Ace suspected something.

"C.C. is a very fast learner, she learned how to pilot this Knightmare during her stay in Britannia but had never use it in an actual battle." L.L. answered with ease as if he was undisturbed by the tension around them.

"Speaking of Britannia, I believe we should be heading back now. I'm sure there's many tasks waiting for me in the Imperial Palace." Zero said and looked at the two immortals behind him to signal them to back up his statement.

"That's right. L.L., you promised to help Lloyd with his ideas of improvements on Shinkiro, didn't you?" C.C. glanced at the boy next to her.

"Yes, and so did you."

"I can see that you're all very busy, thank you for coming here despite that fact." Kallen said after a few more quick looks at the three in front of her.

"It was our pleasure to join you in a training session, I hope we'll meet again soon." Zero nodded and turned to walk to the Lancelot.

"I'm sure we will." Gino and Kallen also went back to the main building. A few seconds after, three Knightmares took off and headed for Britannia.

/

"That was a close call back then with Kallen." Suzaku said as he sat inside Lancelot's cockpit while they're flying back to Pendragon, Britannia.

"Yeah, she definitely looked like she thought something was fishy between the three of us." C.C. answered from her Lancelot Frontier.

"I knew the similarities would be too obvious." Lelouch joined the conversation.

"Although, I really can't see the need for you to keep this a secret so much."

"I told you, things will just get more complicated if the world knew I'm alive. We'd have to explain things like Geass, immortals, Zero Requiem,...Not to mention there's countless people who still hold grudges against me."

"And who might that be?"

"There would be too many to list but the best examples would be Cornelia and Kallen."

"Lelouch, no one's holding anything against you now. I'd already left the matters of the past behind, I don't see how they wouldn't do the same if they knew the truth about your actions before as Zero and Emperor of Britannia." Suzaku stated when he'd had enough of Lelouch's unrealistic worries.

"Everyone's different, Suzaku. And why do you two want me to declare that I'm alive so much?"

"Because that would make things so much easier since we won't have to sneak around half as much and so many people will be happy to know that you're alive and well."

When Lelouch didn't retort to that, the brunette continued talking. "At least just consider the option carefully, okay? I know a part of you really do want to talk to them once again as Lelouch."

"Alright, fine, we'll deal with it once we finish our business with Russia."

Suzaku sighed and said no more on the subject, knowing that's all he's going to get from the latter. A few minutes later, they arrived in the Imperial Palace's laboratory. As soon as they'd gotten out of their Knightmare Frames, they could hear Lloyd shout out in pain when he saw the state Lancelot was in.

"My Lancelot! What have you done to it?" The man exclaimed as he ran around said Knightmare to examine the damage.

"And Shinkiro, too!" Rakshata glared at the three pilots when she noticed all the scratches, dents and even pieces falling apart on her proud creation.

"Kallen and Gino wanted to train with us in Japan and we agreed. As we fought, the battle became intense and we kinda went overboard." Suzaku explained with a sheepish smile, hoping that the two scientists won't kill him or any of the people who participated in the battle.

"Does that mean Guren and Tristan are in the same states?"

"Unfortunately, yes." This time, it was Rakshata's turn to groan loudly as she thought of all the works waiting for her back at the Black Knights' Headquarters.

"You already know how busy we are and you just had to create more work for us to do!"

"We're sorry, at least we had a good fight and are now ready for combat."

"Whatever, there's nothing left here for you three to do so you can leave now. You're just going to get in the way if you stay here." Lloyd sighed and walked away with Rakshata to get their tools. Cecile gave him an annoyed look before rephrasing what he'd just said.

"What Lloyd meant is that you guys had a long day and should all get some rests, we'll take care of Lancelot and Shinkiro."

"OK, thank you and sorry again for bothering you so much." Suzaku replied, feeling genuinely bad for all the things the three scientists will still have to do.

"No, no, don't worry about it. I'll see you guys later." Cecile smiled and went to regroup with Rakshata and Lloyd.

"Well, I guess we should head home since there really is nothing else to do here." The brunette turned around and looked at C.C. and Lelouch.

"Yeah, battling with Kallen and Gino was incredibly tiring." The latter answered and began to walk out of the room.

Once the trio had gotten back to the house, the two boys were fast-asleep out of exhaustion as soon as they'd fallen onto their beds. C.C. – who just realized that she was the only one awake in the house – shrugged and picked up the phone to order a pizza.

/

_**Moscow's Military Base – Russia**_

"Alright, thank you very much for your exceptional work." General Vladimir smirked after he'd listened to the full report about the meeting in Britannia from a spy Russia had managed to slip in as a Britannian royal guard.

"It's an honor to be of help to you, Sir." The spy replied proudly.

"By the way, the plan Britannia suggested, it was very good and would've certainly caught us off guard. Who was the person that came up with it?" The general leaned back against his chair and drummed his fingers on the table as he waited for an answer.

"Sir, the idea was first suggested by Princess Cornelia li Britannia but it was Zero who provided arguments which convinced the representatives to use this strategy."

"Zero?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Hmm, that's a surprise. He didn't seem to be particularly good at combat tactics when we met in Greece. And for the same person to come up with an amazing plan like that just a few days later, it's almost like he's a different person." Vladimir mumbled under his breath mainly to himself.

"Sir, is there anything else you want to know?" The soldier on the screen asked.

"No, that'll be all. Keep up the excellent work and notify me when there's any changes or new information."

"Yes, Sir!"

The screen shut down as the communication was cut off. General Vladimir smiled to himself and made an announcement for an emergency meeting. In his mind, he'd already figured out a way to counter Britannia in their upcoming attacks.

**A/N: *bangs head against desk* Wow, that took forever to type. I hope it was okay and I promise I'll try my hardest to update as soon as possible. Oh, I almost forgot. To anypotter: There, you got your chapter which means I've done my part of our bargain, *points gun at you and cue dramatic music* now hand over the pizza...Jokes! Thanks for your review, it really helped me work harder on the story. And let it be known that I LOVE pizza :). Well, that's all I got to say, feel free to comment on the chapter by reviewing. See you again soon!**


	13. Unforeseen Results

**Um, before we begin, I just want to make sure that nobody is carrying any sort of weapon. OK, it feels safer now. I am so so so sorry for the wait, even though I really did try my best to update. Here is my list of reasons: writer's block (it's every writer's nightmare!), mountains of homework (every student's nightmare), I was addicted to Kuroshitsuji (also known as Black Butler) and I've just sprained my ankle really badly and can't even walk!...OK the last one definitely isn't a reason for updating late. Well, thank you so very much for all the reviews, favorites and alerts. Let's move on to some review replies!**

**To anypotter: thanks for the pizzas! Wow there was a lot! Your review really cracked me up, sorry for the wait but the chapter is just right below.**

**VampirePrinssess: Hey! I said no weapons! If there's any bloodsheds or violence here I'll call the cops! OK, I'm kidding. You two were hilarious in the review, thanks for reviewing! :)**

**PXLight: Again, really sorry about being late and thank you for the review. By the way, I checked out your profile and I was totally freaked out. My birthday is 28/11, too! I write, play flute and piano as well! O_0**

**Well, that's all for now. Sorry I can't reply to all the reviews but I'm just really tired right now.**

**Disclaimers: Code Geass belongs entirely to Sunrise and CLAMP.**

**Chapter 13 – Unforeseen Results**

_**Morning in Pendragon, Britannia**_

It has been 3 days since the last meeting in Britannia and the decided day for the attack has come. The night before has been spent entirely on supplies and all that was left to do in the morning was adding finishing touches. Even Zero, L.L. and C.C. had been helping out in the laboratory for hours without rest. Since the amount of Knightmare Frames needed was massive, all the mechanics in this department were required to work overtime. Lloyd and Zero had been supervising the workers while Lelouch, C.C. and Cecile were in charge of installing software or extra components to improvise the mechanisms. It was 8:30 AM and the final meeting was to be held at 9:30. The pilots from the Black Knights and UFN arrived and also helped out in the lab, speeding the process up dramatically. Everyone managed to complete their work with literally minutes to spare. Zero, C.C. and L.L. left for the meeting right after they'd packed up all the tools. Inside the conference room, all the representatives had arrived and were waiting for them.

"Welcome. It seems all of us are here, let's begin this meeting. First of all, Zero, are our supplies and equipment ready?" Prince Schneizel greeted everybody and instantly got straight to the point.

"With the assistance from the Black Knights and the UFN, all the preparations have been made. The only issue left now is deciding on our combat strategy. Are there any changes in Russia's activities, Prince Schneizel?"

"No. From what we can see via satellites, their daily routines consist of training troops preparing Knightmare Frames and hosting normal meetings. I believe they are unaware and will be quite surprised when we attack."

"Speaking of attack, what tactics are we using this time?" Princess Cornelia inquired.

"We should attack in waves from three directions – west, north and east – so their troops will be either diverged or concentrated into one place and leaving an opening. Either way will be advantageous to us." Zero answered with ease. In moments like this, Suzaku was truly glad that Lelouch had agreed to help him. They had been discussing many scenarios the night before in order to select this method.

"That is an excellent plan, Zero. The number of soldiers we have is approximately 51000, that is enough to divide into three groups of 17000 evenly. Each group will need a leader, are there any volunteers?" Prince Schneizel asked as he looked carefully around the room.

"I will be taking one group, if you don't mind." Zero announced.

"Then Xingke and I will lead one other group." Ohgi offered.

"Very well, then there is only the matter of the last group left. Princess Cornelia and I had agreed that we will remain here to monitor Russia's moves so neither of us can be the third leader." Schneizel stated and everyone began thinking about the other personnel available.

"What about Kallen Kouzuki or Gino Weinberg? Either of them would be capable of controlling a large group of soldiers." Cornelia suggested.

"No, Kallen had been known to call herself Zero's Ace so she'll definitely request to stay in the same division as him. And Lord Weinberg will be assisting Ohgi and me." Xingke explained and ruled out those two choices.

"Zero, I believe C.C. will be suitable as well. She had been a great help to you and the Black Knights in the past. If any unexpected decisions should be made during the battle, she can ask you directly for advice." Ohgi said when he noticed the two people standing behind the masked leader.

Suzaku turned his head slightly to give L.L. a questioning look – even though his face was covered by the mask. Lelouch returned his look with a barely noticeable nod, Ohgi had made very good points and he didn't see anything wrong with making C.C. the leader.

"Alright, I'll try my best." C.C. answered with a bored expression.

"Then the matter is settled. We should now focus on the chosen strategy. Zero, please give us the details of your plan." Schneizel and everyone else directed their attention to the masked figure.

"As I've said before, we will be attacking in waves from various directions. The first attack will be at Russia's northern border. Ten minutes after that, the second and third wave will be simultaneously launched to the ease and west side respectively. I will be in charge of the first group while Ohgi and C.C. will lead the two other groups." Zero explained slowly so the plan would be fully understood.

"I see. It seems all matters had been sorted out, as far as strategy is concerned. One last thing to do is divide the soldiers into groups and elaborate the plan to them. We should be able to leave Britannia within the hour." Prince Schneizel ended the meeting and everybody went to do their jobs right away.

"Lelouch, are you sure having C.C. as a leader is a good idea?" Suzaku asked as the three stood in a secluded corner of the laboratory.

"Yes, I'll be there with her so we'll manage."

"Do you really have THAT little confidence in me, Suzaku?" C.C. commented with a fake hurt look.

"No, of course not! I'm just worried about you two, this battle is about as big as the one 5 years ago."

"For your information, I was the one who started the Black Rebellion which had you running around like an idiot and C.C. was my co-pilot in Gawain." Lelouch smirked as he listed his accomplishments.

"OK, OK, I got the idea. But just be careful, contact me right away if there's any problem and I'll send some reinforcements over."

"There's no need for that, we'll be fine. All you need to do is focus on your own battlefield. If you're distracted or side-tracked, you won't be of help to anybody."

"I guess you're right, thanks for the tip."

"Hey, I think we should get going, the others are looking for us." The green-haired girl pointed out.

"Yeah, it's time. Good luck." Suzaku said and began making his way back to his group, Lelouch and C.C. also left their spots and walked to another part of the room where their army was. Minutes later, once all the soldiers were present, all three armies gradually moved towards Russia.

/

_**At the same time, Russia's Military Base**_

In the control room, General Vladimir was calmly sipping his coffee after finishing his breakfast. He sighed and smiled contently after the first swallow of the drink.

"Ah, there really is nothing better than hot coffee on a cold morning." The general murmured to himself.

After the spy's report from the other day, he'd been personally monitoring over Britannia and organized emergency meetings for counterattacks. His smile widened into an almost devilish smirk as he was reminded of the fact that Britannia didn't have a clue about what they were getting into.

_**Flashback: That night's meeting**_

Vladimir stood at the center of the conference room as he explained the newly-raised situation with Britannia to his subordinates.

"Everyone, I've just received some rather fascinating information from our reliable sources. It seems that our enemy had started their next move. They've chosen to attack our homeland." He explained and surprised whispers filled the room after he'd finished.

"There is no need to worry, they believe they'll be able to catch us off-guard but that is far from the truth. The attack was arranged to happen in 3 days, that is more than enough time for us to prepare. As for our strategy to defend, I believe I have a quite convincing suggestion. Most likely, Britannia's plan will be attacking with all they have at out borderlines. This is extremely risky but also very effective. To have a higher chance of success, they will try to divide our troops' attention and create massive chaos. In order to do this, multiple attacks from several sides will be launched. Judging by the distance between Russia and Britannia, they'll be attacking from north, east and west. We will remain oblivious for now as part of the pretense while secretly strengthening our armies. When the day comes, we'll move out to defend in the exact manner that they'd expect us to. In addition to that, a large quantity of troops will move towards the west side using our underground passages. When the enemy arrives there, I'll give my command and our hidden team will attack from behind. It will be the perfect ambush." Vladimir explained and grinned proudly.

"Sir, please excuse me but wouldn't that eliminate just one third of their army?" One of his vice commanders pointed out.

"You're right, it would. But that is exactly what I had in mind. For now, I do not want to annihilate Britannia and the rest completely. This will only be a warning that they should think AT LEAST twice before invading Russia's homeland. Also I want to prolong this little game with Zero for a while more. He is quite intriguing, I haven't been this entertained in a long time. Anyway, if there are no further objections against my plan, we should all move out and inform our soldiers."

"Yes, sir!"

_**End Flashback**_

Two days after the meeting was all it took for Russia to become combat-ready. After that, they were all waiting for Britannia to fall right into the trap. And that was exactly what Vladimir had been doing in the control room for the whole night. He sighed out of pure boredom and resumed reading a book. He'd barely finished a couple pages when he finally received some good news.

"Sir, Britannia, UFN and the Black Knights are moving towards Russia as we speak. They should be at the borderline in about an hour." The spy on the screen informed him.

"Ah, at last! I was beginning to think that they cowered out at the last minute. Thank you very much, soldier. Keep up the good work."

"Yes, sir!"

Vladimir cut off the conversation with the spy and smiled excitedly as he made an announcement to the troops.

"Attention all soldiers, our enemy had made their move. Be ready to move out when they attack but remember to look as if you were unprepared when approaching the battlefield. As for the ambushing team, please make your way to the underground tunnels at once. That is all."

As soon as the announcement had finished, Vladimir could hear the footsteps of soldiers running to their groups. Without another glance at the room, the proud general left to make preparations of his own.

/

_**Near Russia's borderline**_

After nearly one hour of flying, the combined army of the Black Knights, UFN and Britannia had finally reached the Russian borderlines. The entire army had already seperated into three groups and had moved to their designated spots. According to the plan, Zero will be leading the first attack from the north following by C.C. at the west and Ohgi at the east.

Inside the Lancelot Albion, Suzaku took off the Zero mask while letting out a long sigh as he prepared himself for the invasion. The troops had taken nearly twenty minutes to rearrange themselves into battle formats and were waiting for the cue to attack. _I should give the command soon, we've already wasted quite a lot of time. _With the thought in mind, the brunette took a deep breath and spoke into the loudspeaker.

"Everybody, the time has come for us to attack. Just follow my lead and give it your all!"

"Yes, My Lord!"

The Lancelot Albion's Energy Wings shone brightly as it headed straight for Russia's territory with a large army following. As soon as they'd passed the borderline, Russian Federation's Knightmare Frames came into view. Just as Zero predicted, the amount of soldiers guarding the borders was nowhere near enough to fight against a whole army of combined troops. Even so, Russia's Knightmares fired with all they had, desperately trying to hold their grounds. As minutes passed by, more and more Russian troops arrived to back up their comrades. _Wow, this is going better than I expected. At this rate, we really can win!_ Fired up by the thought, Suzaku charged straight at a group of Knightmare Frames. Within two swings of the Lancelot's MVS, he managed to destroy four of them.

"Suzaku, how's everything going?" Lelouch asked as he contacted the latter for the first time since the beginning of the battle.

"Things are going just fine, Russia's soldiers had increased in number but the situation is still controllable."

"That's good to hear. You've been fighting for ten minutes already, don't you think it's about time to launch the second and third wave?"

"Yeah, sure. Good Luck."

"Thanks, I have to contact Ohgi now. I'll talk to you later."

"OK."

Lelouch ended the call while Suzaku forced himself to concentrate on the enemy once again. But no matter how hard he tried, he still couldn't shake off an uneasy feeling that something felt wrong.

/

_**L.L. and C.C.'s side of the battle**_

When his talk with Suzaku had finished, Leloiuch had C.C. called Ohgi to inform him of their decision to begin attacking.

"I'm done, Ohgi and Xingke's army is moving." The witch said once her conversation with Ohgi was over.

"Great, now all you have to do is give our soldiers the command."

"Is there a particular reason why I'm doing all the talking here?"

"Technically, you're the one who was chosen to be the leader and I'm just an extra."

"Fine, but I'm not doing this for free. You're going to be buying A LOT of pizza in the future, boy."

"Just get on with it."

"Attention, soldiers. This first attack was a success and the second group has just begun theirs so it's time for us to do the same. You should know what to do from this morning. Now, charge!" C.C. directed the soldiers in such commanding tone that it surprised even Lelouch.

Some soldiers let out war cries and they all flew fearlessly at the enemy. Since there was only around 100 guards against an army of thousands, Britannia quickly gained the upper hand. As they flew further into the enemy's territory, Shinkiro was able to defeat nearly thirty Knightmares with the help from Lancelot Frontier.

The instance Britannia had made it pass the borders, Russia realized that they were being attacked from multiple directions and immediately sent back-ups to the other battlefields. Lelouch smirked victoriously as he watched his predictions came true before his eyes. _Yes, everything is going exactly as planned. It won't be long now until– _In the middle of his thoughts, the boy noticed on the radar that five of the Knightmare Frames behind him were terminated at once. _What in the world's going on? _ Lelouch turned Shinkiro around to get a better view of the situation, his smirk from before turned into a shocked frown when he saw a huge Russian army covering the sky. _So they had seen this coming and hid underground, damn it!_

"L.L.! Don't turn your back on the enemy!" C.C. yelled out as she managed to block a slash harken that was mere seconds away from piercing right through Shinkiro.

"I'm not! There's a Russian army behind us, too!"

"That means we're trapped! Right now they have twice the amount of troops that we do, and there's no way we can fight from both front and back!"

"Indeed, so you might as well give up." An unfamiliar voice stated as a black Lancelot Albion came into view.

"So you must be General Vladimir that Zero was talking about." L.L. replied.

"Yes, and you are?"

"None of your business."

"Hmm, that's an odd name, don't you think?"

"Are you going to talk all day or fight?"

"You already know the outcome, yet you insist on fighting? Alright, as you wish."

The Lancelot Albion charge moved towards Shinkiro with extraordinary speed. Lelouch barely had time to stop one of the lethal MVS before being pushed back from the impact. _Ugh, he's not as skilled as Suzaku but definitely is fast. _

"L.L., we have to do something, the soldiers won't hold for much longer." C.C. reminded urgently.

It was several seconds before Lelouch finally remembered what she was talking about. He'd been so preoccupied with Vladimir that he'd forgotten that they were in the middle of a battlefield and HE was losing.

"There's no way this entire army will make it back in one piece. C.C., you need to head over to Suzaku's side as soon as possible." He decided after a few more seconds of deliberations.

"What are you talking about? I'm not leaving you behind."

"Just go, you know I'll be fine. You need to warn Suzaku and the rest if you want any of us to survive at all."

"But Su-Zero would go berserk is something happened to you!"

"Which is why you should be there to stop that idiot from making stupid decisions."

"That should be YOUR job!"

"Hurry up and leave already, we don't have much time!"

C.C. paused for a moment before sighing and did as Lelouch practically demanded.

"Please excuse me for interrupting your lovely conversation but if you want to escape this place, you'll have to go through me and this army." Vladimir commented as he stood in front of the two immortals.

"Trust me, it'll actually be a lot easier than you think." L.L. retorted as he fired hundreds of powerful beams from Shinkro's Transition Canon. The attack wiped out the closest groups of Russian Knightmare Frames. Only Vladimir's Lancelot was left unscratched since he activated the shields just in time.

"Impressive, as expected of an Eighth Generation Knightmare. But you should remember that Lancelot Albion is a NINTH Generation Knightmare and is famous for its speed." The general was about to attack Shinkiro when he noticed C.C.'s Lancelot Frontier sneaking away and changed his target. He smirked and fired a single shot from one of the VARIS rifles with dead-on precision.

The shot would have done devastating damages to say the least if Shinkiro hadn't been blocking the course with its Absolute Defense Field. The hexagonal shields shattered to millions tiny pieces a fraction of a second after the blinding collision.

"Wow, your Knightmare is full of surprises, isn't it? Very well, I'll finish this battle before dealing with Zero." Vladimir declared excitedly and let C.C. escaped to a relatively safer place.

Lelouch only glared and said nothing back to the enemy facing him. _Lancelot Albion's VARIS rifles really had improved a lot, blocking that shot took away more than 80% of Shinkiro's energy. If he fires one more time, I'm done for. _The Russian general took L.L.'s silence as fear and smiled smugly.

"If you're worrying about me using these rifles again then I can assure you that there is no need to. Since I've taken quite a liking to your unique Knightmare, I'd prefer to capture it in one piece and head back to Moscow so it can be duplicated."

"There's no way in hell I would just surrender quietly after coming this far."

"Fine, if you really want to go down fighting then so be it. I've a feeling this won't take very long." The midnight black Lancelot drew its swords again and prepared for one final blow.

/

_**Back to Suzaku's side**_

Suzaku sighed for the fifth time since the beginning of the battle as he slashed through yet another Sutherland. _Wow, they just keep on coming even though a large number of soldiers had moved to 2 other places. Russia really is a dangerous foe. _

"Zero!" A voice – which he recognized to be C.C.'s – yelled out his name. At first he'd thought she was calling him using the transmitter but the assumption was proven wrong when he saw her Lancelot Frontier flying towards him.

"C.C.? What are you doing here?" He asked with clear confusion.

"It-it's L.L…" His confusion instantly turned into anxiousness when he realized that he'd never seen the immortal witch so worried and shaken up.

"What happened to him?"

"This was a trap, Russia knew we were coming and had set up an ambush on us. We were attacked from both directions and quickly lost. L.L. forced me to come here to warn you and Ohgi while he fights with Vladimir by himself." C.C. explained more clearly once she'd calmed down a little.

"WHAT? You can't be serious!" Suzaku exclaimed and called L.L. right away without any hesitation.

"L.L., are you there? L.L.! Answer me!"

The boy continued sending calls to Shinkiro's pilot but the only answer he'd received was a dreadful silence.

**Ha! Bet you didn't see that coming!...Err, why do I have a feeling you guys are all looking at me with murderous glares while sharpening knifes and putting bullets into guns? Oh right, I just left you with a cliffhanger and my update rate hasn't been the fastest around here.*nervous laughter* Oops. I'll just back away slowly now, hopefully I'll be back soon. For the time being, remember this: It takes hours (in my case, days or weeks) to write and only minutes to review, so why not?. Have a nice day!:) **


	14. Revelations

**Helllloooooooo, everybody! Here's another chapter in only half the time of the previous one ^^. The reasons are: I had two weeks of term breaks which equaled a lot of free time and I just couldn't leave my beloved readers with a cliffhanger for that long (*whispers* also because of the death threats I received). Nah, there wasn't any, only lovely reviews!:) I couldn't believe how awesome you guys were! I mean, 12 reviews for the last chapter and more than 100 alerts? I couldn't believe it! *cries tears of joy*. Okay, I'm sorry for getting emotional. Here are review replies:**

**To 107602: Thank you for reading and reviewing, you'll finally find out what happens after the cliffhanger in the beginning of this chapter.**

**Jessica: Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it and I hope you'll keep on reading.**

**anypotter: Haha 'I write more than you will in a review', that's so true ^^. Wow, we really have the same way of thinking. Good luck on your Code Geass fic!**

**Lil Enchantress: Aw, I hope you didn't lose too much sleep over it. Thank you so much for your review and criticisms, I was really happy to get them. Yes, this is my very first fanfic, writing and reading fanfics helped me a lot in my English and grammars, especially when it's not my first language. And people say watching anime and reading manga is a waste of time! Oh, and to you and everyone who's wondering, there WILL be more Suzalulu, I just couldn't fit them in during these chapters about wars.**

**VampirePrinssess: Hey! I saw that! Hell yeah I can prove it, the evidence's right here! *holds up empty hand* Oh, where did it go? Never mind then. Thanks for the review and cookies, yum! Yay, a Black Butler fan (or fans)! I actually watched the English subbed version for both seasons because I didn't like Sebastian's and Ciel's voice in English. And yes, I'm a mean person, sorry! **

**SisterFreaks: I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! I just needed some dramas in the story.**

**MiharuX3: Why is everyone calling me mean? T-T Sorry for the wait.**

**darkreverie13: Thanks for the comments, I'm so glad it turned out well. ^^**

**Passion Riter: Thank you for reading the story. Like I said before, there will be Suzalulu!**

**Future X13: C-chainsaws? Umm, I'm going to run for my life now. Thanks for reading!**

**silverskies87: Wow, that's freaky 0.o! Thanks for reading and I hope you'll continue to follow the story.**

**kirisaki akira: Sorry for the late update, you'll be able to read chapter 14 in about 15 seconds!**

**Really sorry for the extremely long note but I wanted to reply to everyone to thank them for their amazing supports.**

**Disclaimers: The day I own Code Geass is the day I rule the world!**

**Chapter 14 – Revelations **

_**Afternoon in Moscow's Military Base, Russia**_

Two hours has passed since Russia's total success in defending against, Britannia, UFN and the Black Knights' combined invasion. The entire Russian army – excluding the borderline guards – had returned to Moscow and was now beginning to celebrate their victory. A massive party was planned for the evening but there was still work to do at the moment. A third of the enemy's army was completely destroyed and no one was spared, except for a particular individual. Said person was the currently unknown leader for that wave and was still inside the Eight Generation Knightmare Frame. General Vladimir had fought with this Knightmare until its energy filler was completely empty, making it much easier to be transported back to the base. The general had insisted that no harm was done to the robot in the procedure since he believed it would be a beneficial addition to the army.

Vladimir was now standing in the base's laboratory with the team of mechanics as they watched the cockpit's door being removed. Seconds ticked by and his anticipation kept on rising, he couldn't wait to find out who was the pilot inside this unique machine. He moved closer to get a better view once the metallic door was finally pulled open. Two Russian soldiers climbed into the hatch to retrieve the pilot.

To Vladimir's surprise, a raven-haired teenager wearing the Black Knights' uniform was dragged out and forced to kneel before him. He turned the pilot's face around by pulling his shoulder-length hair when the boy refused to look at him. The instance he had a clear view of the stranger's face, Vladimir recognized who it was and became speechless for a good three minutes. When he recovered from the shock, the general laughed with amusement.

"Wow, and here I thought today just couldn't get any better! Of all people in the world, I'd never expect it to be you, Lelouch vi Britannia. What's next? Maybe Zero's actually Charles zi Britannia?" General Vladimir chuckled at his own joke while Lelouch stayed silent and glared deadly daggers at him.

"Before we continue our conversation, we should move to a more suitable environment. And gentlemen, you may start working on the Knightmare Frame now." Vladimir commanded the mechanics and then directed some soldiers to take L.L. to one of the interrogation rooms. He exited the laboratory and everyone did as he'd instructed. The general moved to the chosen room and the newly-captured prisoner was lead inside behind him.

"Thank you very much and that'll be all, soldiers. I'll take over from here." He dismissed the guards – who immediately saluted and left to wait outside.

"Well, let's pick things up from where we left off earlier. Hmm, there's so many questions that I don't even know where to begin! I suppose a great way to start would be by saying that it's an honor to meet you, the 99th Emperor of Britannia." Vladimir smiled politely at the Britannian sitting opposite him.

"If you already know who I am then you should be well aware that interrogating me would be a waste of time." L.L. stated coldly.

"Don't worry, I'm not asking any questions regarding the Britannian military yet. There are just a few things that had been bothering me. For example, how did you possibly survive that day 5 years ago? Zero's attack in Japan was fatal and the autopsy had confirmed your death to the world."

Lelouch did not answer the question and turned away to stare at the wall beside him instead. After 5 minutes of nothing but silence, General Vladimir decided to try again.

"Alright, we'll get back to that later. So, why are you working with Zero, UFN and the Black Knights? I would've expected someone like you to wait for the right time to reclaim Britannia and take revenge on Zero instead of joining forces with him and all you other enemies."

"I have my reasons."

"Which are?"

"I told you, I will not give you any sorts of information on myself, Britannia or anyone else."

"In case you haven't noticed, you don't really have a choice. You are Russia's prisoner right now after all."

"You can use any methods you see fit and still won't get what you want from me."

"As proud and cool-headed as always, just what I'd expect from you. Very well, we shall postpone this and continue some other time. But now, I have a proposition which I believe you'll find worth considering."

"I seriously doubt that."

"As you can see, Russia has been on a winning streak lately and it won't be long until the world falls under our control. How about working for me? With your help, I'm sure we'll reach our goal a lot faster. Also, not only will you be released immediately, you'll be treated like an aristocrat that you are."

Vladimir was surprised yet once again in the same day when Lelouch scoffed in disbelief.

"You really don't know when to give up, do you? And that must be the stupidest offer I'd received in ages! I do NOT work for ANYBODY. Even if I did, I'd rather die than working under the likes of you."

"Nevertheless, my offer still stands. Just ask one of the soldiers to call me if you change your mind. You'll be guided to a guest room shortly. If you'd excuse me, I have other businesses to attend to." Vladimir said and left the room. _Even if he doesn't cooperate with me, there are still other ways in which I can use him._ The Russian general smirked at the thought and headed to the control room.

/

_**The Black Knight's Headquarters, Japan**_

Zero stomped furiously with C.C. tailing behind him as he made his way from the lab to the control room where the other leaders had requested an emergency meeting. During the battle with Russia, as soon as the western wave was defeated, the tables were turned when Russian troops swarmed in and surrounded the two remaining battlefields from all sides. Without any other options, Zero's and Ohgi's armies had to fight their way pass the borderlines and retreated to Japan. In this process, another large percentage of the army was lost. Those who did make it to the Black Knights' Headquarters were now having their injuries treated as their leaders met up to discuss the next move. Prince Schneizel and Princess Cornelia had arrived from Britannia and were waiting in the control room along with the rest, which is why Zero was walking there as fast as he could without actually running. When he finally got to the room, he pushed the two doors open with all his might and barged inside without caring about how hard the doors hit against the walls. Everyone in the room was startled by the sound and turned around to see the raging masked figure of Zero.

"We've been waiting for you, Zero. I apologize for the short notice but we needed everybody in here to discuss what to do n-"

"There's nothing to discuss. We're heading back to Russia to finish what we started after all the wounded are taken care of." Schneizel's opening speech was cut short by Zero.

"You must be joking! We've lost nearly half of our troops, coming back there would be suicidal!" Cornelia frowned at the ridiculous plan.

"Risks need to be taken if we want to win this war. The number of casualty Russia gained is not to be overlooked either." Zero stated, anyone in the room could see that he was determined to attack once again even if he had to do it alone.

"Zero, please listen to Princess Cornelia. Even though we came close to winning this time, we'd greatly underestimated Russia. There will be other chances, but right now we need to focus on recovering what we'd lost." Prince Schneizel insisted and was supported by the others.

"What about the army C.C. was controlling? I believe they were taken as prisoners and will be used as hostages."

"That's the main reason why you want to fight Russia, isn't it?" Kallen asked as she stepped out from behind Oghi and Gino by the sideline.

"And what if it was?"

"According to the images from satellites, there were no survivors."

"No, you're wrong. L.L. and I were fighting General Vladimir and he was fixed upon bringing Shinkiro back to Moscow for duplication." C.C. informed as she joined the argument.

"Great, that means Russia has obtained another one of our strongest Knightmare Frames." Schneizel sighed and shook his head, things were just getting worse and worse.

"That also means L.L. was taken to Moscow and needs to be rescued as soon as possible!" Zero declared loudly.

"Forget it! He's just one ordinary soldier, all that trouble and risks aren't worth it!" Cornelia exclaimed, she was quickly losing her patience at the man's stubbornness and stupidity.

"He's not JUST another soldier, he's-"

Zero was interrupted when loud sounds filled the room as the large screen showed and incoming call. Much to everyone's disbelief, it was from General Vladimir. Zero was in front of the screen in an instance and answered the call before anyone could react.

"What do YOU want?" He growled menacingly. Somewhere at the back of his mind, Suzaku knew he was acting extremely out of Zero's character but he couldn't care less about it at the moment.

"My, is that how you greet all your callers? I thought Britannians were more civil than that." Vladimir smiled calmly, unaffected by the masked leader's hostility.

"Just get straight to the point!"

"Alright, the reason I called was to thank you for your generous gifts. Along with the Eight Generation Knightmare, I believe its name was Shinkiro, I received the most interesting guest of all. Allow me to show you who he is, if any of you don't already know."

Suzaku felt panic and more fury rise within him as he watched the screen shifts from Vladimir in the control room to a different scenery. _No, he wouldn't dare!_ The image became clearer and Lelouch was shown. Gasps filled the room and sounds of denial were heard from everyone. The screen quickly changed back to Vladimir after a few more seconds.

"Yes, I know it's very hard to believe but the pilot I captured really was no one other than Lelouch vi Britannia."

"If you know what's good for you then he'd better be unharmed!" Zero hissed at the screen, he looked about ready to kill the Russian in front of him.

"Relax, he's treated as a guest, for now. I can return him to you, provide that you do a few things for me of course."

"And what makes you think we would want that bastard back when we tried to kill him 5 years ago?" Cornelia retorted.

"Don't you wish to know how he's still alive? Ask him about what he'd learned while in the capital of Russia? Have him help you win against me? I can think of a lot more uses for him." Vladimir smirked and answered with ease.

"What do you want in exchange for Lelouch?" Zero asked, stunning his comrades.

"Zero, you can't be serious!" The Britannian princess threw deadly glares that can rival her stepbrother's at him.

"Ah, I knew you'd understand! All I ask is that Britannia, UFN and the Black Knights will no longer have any interference whatsoever to Russia's actions. Oh, while you're at it, you can surrender as well." Vladimir's smirk widen as he revealed his true intentions.

"That's just crazy! A five-year-old would know we'd never accept something like that!" Cornelia yelled and looked at the Russian as if he'd lost his mind.

"Of course you don't have to answer right away. Your time limit to decide is 4 days. When the time comes, please head to Moscow for negotiation. If we have a deal by then, you will leave with Lelouch and we'll have nothing to do with each other anymore."

"What if we decline your offer?"

"I think I can leave it to your imagination. That is all I have to say, please enjoy your day and I hope to see you all again in Moscow." General Vladimir ended the conversation and vanished from the screen.

"Damn it!" Zero hissed and banged down on the control table, leaving some dents on the surface.

"If you're even CONSIDERING what he said then you're even more of a fool than I thought." Princess Cornelia scowled and moved back to her place next to Schneizel.

"Cornelia and Zero, please calm down. We need to stay clear-headed right now. Before we get any further into this matter or anything else, there is something we should think about as well." Her stepbrother said as he finally stepped in to break the argument between the two.

Zero took a few deep breaths and asked with a more collected demeanor, "What is it?"

"It's possible that there is a spy amongst our soldiers. This is one of the plausible explanations to how Russia has been able to predict our every move, even their timing to attack was too perfect. Over the past few months, Britannia has a massive number of recruits from all over the world joining the forces, the chances of Russia sneaking in a spy or two are high which also supports this theory. I apologize for the carelessness on my part in this matter."

"If that's true then we'll have to be on guard until the spy is caught. Prince Schneizel, make sure that only your most trusted officers are guarding this room and its surrounding right now."

"Yes, My Lord!" Schneizel saluted the masked leader and exited the room.

"That should be the end of that, back to the matter of Russi-"

"Wait! Don't you think you and C.C. have a lot of explaining to do about Lelouch?" Zero was stopped once again – much to his annoyance – by Kallen.

"There is nothing to explain."

"Then why did neither of you seem the least bit surprised that L.L. was Lelouch and that he was still alive during these 5 years? Not to mention the fact that he hasn't changed in appearance at all."

"We were not surprised because we already knew he was Lelouch. I really had been living with him since his death in 2018." C.C. answered truthfully.

"C.C.!" Zero shot her a look of incredulity.

"There's no use hiding anything anymore. The worse that could happen is that we'll never hear the end of it from Lelouch when he gets back."

"Zero, who are you really?" Kallen finally asked what she'd been wanting to know for years.

The masked leader in question looked around the room to find all eyes on him, waiting for an answer. The green-haired witch was also staring at him, silently signaling him to end this suspicion once and for all. With a sigh of defeat, he slowly took off the mask, revealing himself as Suzaku Kururugi. Everyone present in the room stood dumb-founded from discovering yet another person thought to be dead was still alive. Kallen and Cornelia were the only people who didn't look as shocked as the first time.

"I guess I shouldn't be that surprised, you're the only person capable of killing Lelouch back then. The only thing I don't understand is how you're still here. Gino and I saw the Lancelot Albion exploding with you inside after we fought on the Damocles." Kallen commented.

"It's quite complicated." Suzaku replied, trying his best to prevent them from getting further into the matter.

"We have plenty of time and I'm not going to talk about anything else until all of this is over and done with."

"*sigh* fine, but I think C.C. would be a better person to explain this." The spotlight was now on the girl sitting on the ground.

"The answer's simple and straightforward, it was Geass."

"Geass? Ugh, I thought I'd seen the end of that damn thing 5 years ago." Cornelia stated with disgust.

"There is more to it than just a hypnotizing power. Lelouch wasn't the only one who possessed it, even Charles and Marianne did. The ability can vary in individuals. There had been powers such as erasing memories, transferring souls, reading thoughts and stopping people's sense of time. Lelouch held the power to command anyone to do as he wishes."

"He gave me the order to live on so now I cannot age or die." Suzaku added as an example.

"When the Geass is strong enough, its user can receive an even greater curse - immortality." C.C. paused her explanation to see the audience's reaction.

"So…Lelouch is an immortal? Hold on, how do you know all this?" Kallen asked with confusion in her eyes, all of this information about Geass was getting very difficult to process.

"Because I'm also an immortal myself."

"WHAT? H-how do you become like that anyway?"

"Like I said, when the Geass is strong enough, the user gains the ability to kill an immortal. When the immortal dies, the mark of immortality – or Code – is transferred to the Geass user. When I gave Lelouch his Geass in Shinjuku, our contract was that he'd kill me but due to some turns of events he obtained his father's Code instead."

"Wait, YOU gave Lelouch the Geass?"

"Yes, along with many others before him."

"*sigh* you were right, Suzaku. This is complicated."

"I told you, now can we get back to the plan to save Lelouch?"

"I still don't see why we need to save that guy, especially when he cannot die." Princess Cornelia said, still set on abandoning Lelouch.

"That doesn't mean he doesn't feel pain if anything happens to him, I can't believe you can stand the thought of leaving your own sibling in the enemy's territory!"

"He deserves it!"

"Look, I understand that he had done A LOT of horrifying deeds in the past but he did it for a good cause. I should know that better than anyone, I was probably the one who hated him the most and now I'm defending him! Lelouch's plan from the beginning was to create a better world for Nunnally. In order to do that, he started the rebellion and then took over the world to gather all the hatred in the world onto himself to break that miserable endless cycle. He even planned his own DEATH!" Suzaku panted a little after his speech from all the yelling. He truly hoped this would clear up Lelouch's name, even if only to the people inside the room. When he looked around, he could see that everyone was still in conflict with themselves about whether or not to save the boy. To his amazement, Cornelia was the first person to speak up.

"Fine, let's find a way to rescue that bastard." The Britannian Princess walked over to the gigantic table displaying the world map in the center of the room where the brunette was standing.

"Princess Cornelia." Suzaku sighed in relief, at least one person was willing to help him. He couldn't be happier when the others followed her example as well.

"Don't get the wrong idea, Kururugi! I'm only doing this so I can kill him myself!"

"We better get a plan drawn up quickly then, we don't have much time left after all." Kallen reminded.

"Well, Vladimir's conditions are obviously unreasonable so we have to find a way to infiltrate Moscow Military Base. Let's see, Moscow is quite close to Russia's western borderline and Poland. A normal Knightmare or two should be able to get to Poland without being detected. From there, I'll discreetly move to Moscow. It won't be easy but definitely is possible." Suzaku suggested.

"Suzaku, I'll go with you. It's too dangerous to go alone and I shouldn't have left Lelouch behind anyway." C.C. said from her spot on the ground behind him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"You two ARE the most suitable for this job as well. I'll have some counterfeit Russian military I.D made for you which will make it slightly easier to move around. You'll be using fake names and no one should recognize who you are." Cornelia announced, sorting out the first step of the plan.

"OK, you should be in Moscow after 2 or 3 days if everything goes to plan. The hard part would be rescuing Lelouch and escaping. There's no doubt that alarms will be raised a few minutes after you've gotten him out at the latest." Kallen added.

"It wouldn't be a good idea to use the same route as the one in the beginning either. Finland should be fine since it's twice the distance from Poland and in a different direction. Fortunately, the Black Knights' submarine is still in Britannia, I'll have it waiting for you in Finland." Ohgi offered and everyone agreed.

"Then we have a plan, all the preparation can be done in hours. C.C. and I should be able to leave tonight. Thank you so much for your cooperation, everyone." Suzaku said with a bright smile, he looked genuinely touched.

"Don't mention it, Suzaku! And when you get back with Lelouch, let's catch up on old times, right buddy?" Gino came out of the crowd with a wide grin a wrapped his arm around the latter's shoulders like nothing has changed.

"Err…sure. Oh, I almost forgot! There is another favor I need to ask from everyone. Please keep the fact that Lelouch and I are still alive a secret. It would be very troublesome and chaotic if the world learns about Geass and its existence."

"Since you put it that way, it's not like we have any other choice." Kallen pointed out.

"I guess that's true, thanks anyway."

"Alright, that should be all there is to talk about. You and C.C. should get some rest, you'll need it. Ohgi, Kouzuki and I will go do our parts and we'll let you know when everything's ready." Cornelia said and walked away to do her job.

"Thank you. C.C., let's go." Suzaku thanked everyone in the room, put his mask back on and left with the immortal witch.

The two returned to their separate guest rooms as advised even though they both knew there was no way any sort of rest can come. Suzaku just sat on the bed in his room and stared at the round clock on the wall, wishing that time would flow faster just this once so they can leave already. _Lelouch, hang on. I'm coming for you._

**A/N: So, is that better now? No cliffhangers. But the story is moving kinda slowly, sorry! Well, to make up for the long start, I make this short. I'll see you soon! Don't forget to review, they help me write faster! **


	15. Rescue

**One…more…word….DONE! *slams head against desk* So tired…I'm so so so so sorry everyone! Even though I promised you all that T-T. Just after the last chapter, I was given the most stupid project EVER for English. It took me at least 5 hours every day for 3 weeks to finish, I'm not kidding! After that, exams came, I had three in one day! I finally found some time in the recent weeks to write so here it is. I'm sorry! T-T**

**Review Replies:**

**To 107602: Thank you for reviewing, have fun reading this chapter!**

**Kirisaki Akira: So sorry for the wait, enjoy!**

**Miharux3: It's OK, I was kinda mean for leaving you guys hanging for so long. I'm sorry! Thanks for your review.**

**Jessica Li Britannia: Thanks! I'm glad you liked the story.**

**Anypotter: Your reviews are always so funny! I couldn't stop laughing when I read it! XD Thanks for the kind words, my friends said I was like Lelouch too, especially when I tried doing his evil laugh (and failed). By the way, I blame you for destroying my room. That bomb exploded!**

**Codenamelol: O-o…I don't even know how to reply to that. But thanks for reviewing TWICE in one chapter! :) **

**VampirePrinssess: Correct answer, C! We have a winner, congrats! Here's (imaginary) 5 bucks! Sorry, I didn't know the spy thing was bothering you.**

**Future X13: Of course he would rescue Lelouch, there's no way he'll leave him in Russia, right? ^^**

**Silverskies87, T.T and anonymous: Thank you, I'm so happy so many of you like this story. It makes me feel so bad not being able to update faster.**

**OK, that's about it, story time!**

**Disclaimer:…why can't I have Code Geass for Christmas? T-T**

**Chapter 15 – Rescue**

_**Black Knights' Headquarters, Japan**_

Within an hour after the rescue plan has been sketched up, all the work needed to be done was finished. Suzaku – who was the one first to be notified - left his room and quickly walked over to C.C.'s. The girl, who must have been waiting for him, opened the door right away after the first knock. She was already dressed in Russian army clothes similar to his, they also got their counterfeit IDs as both regular citizens and military officers.

"Everything's ready, let's go." Suzaku stated and headed for the laboratory with C.C trailing quietly behind him.

The entire headquarters were noticeably emptier since the army has been moved back to Britannia in order to bring Russia's attention with them. Inside the laboratory, there were only two or three Knightmares left with a few chosen people waiting for Suzaku and C.C..

"Good timing, we'd just finished refueling the Knightmares. You'll be traveling using Sutherlands to camouflage with the Russian army. Here are the keys." Kallen explained and handed the keys over to the pilots.

"Our troops are now back in Britannia with Schneizel and Ohgi. As far as Russia knows, everyone is over there to debate over saving Lelouch. Getting to Poland or Belarus shouldn't be too difficult." Cornelia added as she stood next to the redhead.

"Thanks, we owe you a lot." Suzaku said.

"Save that for later, you should be in the cockpits already."

"OK, I'll see you in 3 or 4 days, if everything goes to plan. Oh, please keep all of this a secret from Nunnally, I think Lelouch would want to explain things to her himself."

"I got it, no one was planning otherwise in the first place." With another nod of acknowledgement, the pilots climbed into the cockpits and departed for Poland.

The flight from Japan to Poland was even further than from Britannia to Japan. Also, the speed of Sutherlands was a lot slower in comparison to their advanced Knightmare Frames. By the time they got to a city near Poland's border with Belarus, it was after midnight. Since these countries were neighbors to Russia, there were no doubt they were part of the Russian Federation. Just as expected, the small city has a few soldiers patrolling the streets at all time. There was even a military base located in the town square.

"What should we do now?" C.C. asked as they hid at the back of a building when a soldier walked pass. Their Knightmares had been left in the forest outside to avoid unnecessary attention.

"Let's find a hotel and stay until morning, it'll look very suspicious if we travel at this time of the night."

The two went into the first hotel they saw and asked for a room, the money used to pay for it was provided by Cornelia and Schneizel. Strangely, the owner of the place didn't find it a bit strange to see customers wearing military uniform looking for a room so late at night. She simply smiled brightly and handed them an electronic key. Suzaku and C.C. went into their designated room and waited for impatiently for sunrise.

When the grandfather clock in the corner rang at six, they checked out and continued their journey. The streets were deserted with only a few shopkeepers setting up their businesses, the soldiers were nowhere in sight at the moment. Luckily, the two found a place to hire cars in the far part of the market. Wearing military uniforms was definitely a great idea, not only were they able to get the fastest car available, a discount was thrown in as well. C.C. drove – which she was surprisingly good at - with Suzaku as the navigator.

They traveled non-stop with the only exception of refueling petrol. As a result, they passed through Belarus and were nearly at Russian borders by 11 that night. The car, which was now pretty much a piece of junk from overuse, was abandoned at the town entrance as they reluctantly called it a day. Time went by at an impossibly slow rate until the sun took over the sky once again and the two immortals resumed their quest.

A short stop at the local military base was made as they looked for some sort of army vehicle in order to look more inconspicuous. To their relief, their fake IDs actually looked legitimate enough to fool the supervisor of the place. A truck full of weapons and other supplies were given to them for transportation to another city. As the two drove closer to the borderline, the number of ordinary citizens lessened until there were only soldiers and officers patrolling the landscapes. Fortunately, no one paid any particular attention to Suzaku and C.C.'s truck, only a compulsory check at an observatory tower were done before they officially entered Russia's mainland. Fifteen minutes after that, a call from their comrades abruptly broke the deafening silence within the vehicle, "Hey, just calling to check how you guys are going." Gino's energetic voice said from Suzaku's phone which had been modified by Lloyd to not be tracked by any Russian satellites.

"Things are fine so far, C.C. and I went pass Russia's borders a few minutes ago."

"Cool, it's only the second day and you're nearly there already. Cornelia, Kallen and I are back in Britannia, Ohgi and Rakshata are about to depart for Finland with the Black Knights' submarine, they'll be waiting for you, give them a call once you got Lelouch."

"Will do, thanks for telling us. By the way, has Schneizel caught the spy yet?"

"Yep, it was one of the new recruits in the army. But don't you think Russia will notice right away if the spy stopped contacting?"

"They probably know it'd happen sooner or later anyway."

"Guess you're right. Well, I should go now, Kallen needs some help with Guren."

"Right, I'll see you soon." The conversation ended and Suzaku flipped his phone shut. He also decided to turn the device off completely just in case.

"Hey, we're about an hour away from Moscow by car, should we walk there or what?" C.C. asked without taking her eyes off the road.

"Yeah, let's do that, obviously it'll take longer but better to be on the safe side."

"Wouldn't it be bad if this shipment doesn't get to where it needs to?"

"That'll be Vladimir's problem, and I'd enjoy bothering him as much as possible."

"Good point." C.C. agreed and pulled over once the highway they were on ended.

It was 3 hours of walking later when the two got to Moscow and it was now early evening. Locating the national military base was quite easy since it was one of the tallest buildings in the city and covered nearly the entire city center. As expected, the security around the place was quite impressive. Lines of soldiers marched around the vicinity while helicopters and Knightmare Frames circled the whole area from above. To open the automatic steel doors at the entrance, Suzaku and C.C. had to scan their ID cards accompanied by fingerprints and voice analysis. All of these and other information, obviously fake also, had already been added to the database 2 days ago by Britannian hackers.

Once their entries were granted, the two stepped inside and realized they had absolutely no idea which direction to go. Suzaku smacked himself across the forehead as he looked at the multiple corridors, stairs and elevators, "Damn it, we forgot to ask for a map of the place! How could we have overlooked something like that?"

C.C. – who was still emotionless as always – shrugged and made her way to the corridor on her left.

"C.C., you can't just choose a random path like that!"

"Why not? It's a good a place to start as any."

"Ugh, why must you always be right?" The brunette sighed and followed the green-haired witch.

On their way, they saw some soldiers and stiffened slightly. The incoming Russians did nothing but saluted and left to their own businesses. As C.C. and Suzaku walked further and made some occasional turns, they noticed the number of people around reduced gradually. The green-haired girl paid no mind to it so her companion shrugged and did the same. A few minutes later, they met a dead-end, a heavily-guarded control room.

"Stop right there! This area is strictly prohibited to non-authorized personnel." One of the guards declared.

"Sorry, we're new recruits on our first duties so we seem to have gotten lost and wandered to here." C.C. explained calmly.

"Which department are you from?"

"The Engineering Corp." Suzaku answered since it was the first thing to pop into his mind.

"I'm the Squad Leader for that place, I would've been notified if we had any new employees. Who are you two?" Another soldier demanded and raised his gun.

"Great." Suzaku cursed whatever forces from above that was conspiring against him and moved to attack stance.

C.C., who remained completely undisturbed by the loaded weapon pointing at her, walked closer to the Russians and reached out to touch both of them. The brunette watched in confusion and slight fascination as the guards' eyes widened in terror like they were witnessing hell itself before them. Ear-piercing screams would've enveloped the place is the witch haven't covered their mouths. After shrieking with all their might, the soldiers fainted on the spot.

"What did you do to them?"

"I was just showing them their darkest and worst nightmares along with some images of the Geass world. It's one of a Geass immortal's abilities."

"You did the same thing to me at Narita 6 years ago, didn't you?"

"Yes, I'm surprised you still remember."

"Trust me, that's not something anyone can easily forget." Suzaku shuddered as the memories replayed in his mind.

"These guys should've forgotten about it along with seeing us from the shock, let's head back to where we started and find another direction to go."

"Or we could try looking for a map."

"Yeah, whatever."

The two retraced the route they'd taken before and returned to the corridor just behind the main entrance. Their bad luck took a turn for the worse when they were rounding a corner and almost literally bumped into General Vladimir.

"M-my apologies, Sir." Suzaku gritted his teeth and bowed.

"Pay no mind to it, soldier. Hmm, you two will do just find, why is it so hard to find some employees around here? If you have no duty in particular right now, I'll have you do something for me."

"What can we do for you, Sir?"

"Please head to the kitchen and get the food I've ordered for our Britannian guest. You can bring it to his room after that, I'll be there."

The mention of the word 'Britannian' caught the immortals' attention instantly. _Finally, a perfect chance to rescue Lelouch._

"Sir, we're new here so we're not very familiar with this place." C.C. explained while secretly rolling her eyes at how many times she'd said that.

"That explains why I don't remember seeing you two at all. Alright, I'll give you the directions. Keep walking straight for 5 minutes and you'll see some signs pointing to the cafeteria. The guest's room is the last one on the right on third floor."

"Thank you, we'll bring the food to the Britannian's room immediately."

"Wait. You, on the left, there's something I need to ask." Vladimir pointed to Suzaku just as they were about to leave.

"Yes?"

"Have we met before?"

The brunette froze on the spot and cursed his ongoing bad luck. During the time he was Knight of Seven and Zero, he had made plenty of appearances on the medias. He'd been hoping the passage of time had erased that but apparently it hasn't been long enough. "No, Sir. You must be mistaking me with someone else."

"Yes, I believe I have. Well, carry on." Vladimir nodded and walked up the stairs.

"That was way too close." Suzaku whispered once he was sure the latter was gone.

"Yeah, we should hurry and find Lelouch. I don't want to stay here any longer than needed."

Suzaku agreed and the two practically ran to the cafeteria. The food was already prepared, all they did was gave the cook Vladimir's name and they were on their way delivering it. They followed the Russian general's direction and got to a room guarded by four soldiers on the outside. A guard closest to the door entered the password on the touchpad without a word to C.C. or Suzaku. The green-haired girl made sure to memorize the numbers out of the corner of her eyes. The automatic doors slid open and the Russians moved aside for the visitors.

As Suzaku and C.C. stepped into the room, they were greeted by Vladimir – who was leaning against a wall adjacent to the door. "Thank you, please give it to our dear guest over there." The man directed while eyeing the teenager sitting on the bed in the middle of the room. Suzaku took the plates from C.C. and walked over to the Britannian.

"Just leave it on the nightstand." Lelouch said while continuing reading his book, not bothering to look at anyone present.

"Yes, Sir." The Japanese boy answered and did as he was told. Amethyst eyes widened a little from recognition and darted discreetly from the book to the soldier in front of him.

Lelouch actually looked surprised for a fraction of a second before switching back to indifference. Suzaku – whose back was facing Vladimir and C.C. – couldn't help but flashed a quick smile accompanied by a simultaneous wink and then moved back to the entrance.

"I'll leave you to your dinner now, Your Majesty. I'll return in a few hours, hopefully you'll feel like answering my questions by then." Vladimir said and turned towards the door.

"If it hasn't happened in the past 2 days, it never will. You are the most persistent bastard I've ever met."

"I'll take that as a compliment." The Russian general gave the raven-haired youth a wave and exited with Suzaku and C.C..

"It should be about time your shifts end, right gentlemen? You're dismissed, these two will take over for the night." General Vladimir stated as he looked at the soldiers standing around him. They all saluted and chorused an affirmative before the four Russian soldiers left with their superior.

C.C. and Suzaku waited for another minute or so after their enemies had left and reopened the door. The brunette went inside again while his companion stayed outside to guard the entrance.

"Idiot! What the hell are you doing here?" Lelouch snapped as soon as the doors had closed behind the latter.

"That's a very nice way to thank someone who came to save you."

"I never asked you to! I can't believe you're stupid enough to infiltrate the enemy's headquarters! Not to mention alone and without any sort of disguise."

"One, I'm not alone, C.C.'s here too. And two, this uniform is a disguise, it fooled Vladimir and that's good enough. Plus, we have fake IDs."

"So you AND the witch willingly went on a virtually suicidal mission to Russia when you're also Zero?"

"I would never abandon you in the enemy's hands and wait for god knows what to happen. I'm your knight as well, remember?"

"You know I would've been fine. I'm immortal, there's nothing they can do to kill me."

"Look, can we discuss this some other time? For example, when we're OUT of Russia?"

"Fine, let's go."

Suzaku nodded and the two walked out of the room. They regrouped with C.C. and then headed for the entrance. Miraculously, they managed to avoid all the surveillance cameras on the way and stepped out of the building just as the alarm sounded. Without looking back, the trio made a break for it. Ten minutes later, they had to hide in an alleyway as military cars, motorbikes, Knightmares and so on roamed through the entire city of Moscow. Suzaku fished out his phone and called Ohgi to begin the past phase of the operation.

"Suzaku, where are you now?" The Japanese man asked.

"We're still in Moscow, the security is really tight now that they realized the prisoner had escaped."

"Do you think you can get to Russia's borders with Finland?"

"Yes, we'll manage somehow."

"Alright, your Knightmare Frames are hidden there. Everyone decided you need to return to Britannia as soon as possible so that's the quickest way. I'll send you the locations after this. In the mean time, Kallen and Gino just departed from Japan to distract Russia."

"I see, I have to go now. Thank you for your help."

"Good luck."

Suzaku turned off his phone once again and explained the plan to his companions. Once they'd fully understood what to do next, the three hijacked a taxi nearby – which fortunately has tinted windows. Lelouch tampered with the wires a bit and the engines worked perfectly. C.C. sat in the driver's seat one more time and the boys decided they'd made the right choice when she drove out of Moscow on a freeway while going 5 times over the speed limit. Thanks to her insane driving, they got to the borders in less than 3 hours.

As the trio approached the patrols of the place, they were asked for identifications and reasons for being there. Suzaku came to a conclusion that their covers were blown hours ago so he simply knocked them out and run when reinforcements showed up. He followed Ohgi's instructions and found the Knightmares for all three of them, there was even a newly-made Shinkiro for Lelouch. The immortals climbed into the hatches and prepared for take-off when they saw Russian troops at the horizon. Before any of them could fire some sort of ammunition, the Britannian Knightmares lifted off the ground and soared through the sky in a flash.

"Looks like we're safe." Suzaku said through Lancelot's loudspeakers as they flew across Finland.

"I still can't believe you did that!" Lelouch retorted.

"Yeah well get used to it 'cause I'd do it again in a heartbeat if I need to."

"…I've only been gone for 2 days and your idiocy has increased tenfold, amazing."

"Whatever, I'd love to have seen Vladimir's reaction though."

"Yeah, this should wipe that stupid smirk off his face."

"You two do realize he probably hates us twice as much now, right?" C.C. added.

"And? Since when did I give a damn about him? He's going to pay so much the next time we meet."

"Umm, Lelouch? I don't think it's Vladimir you need to worry about at the moment." Suzaku said timidly.

"Why?"

"It's kinda funny actually, the others would never let me go to Russia to rescue an ordinary soldier like L.L. so…"

"If you truly did what I think you did, you won't live to see another day, Suzaku."

"Technically, you can't kill me. Also, Vladimir did it before I could."

"Do you even realize how big a mess it would cause if they know I'm Lelouch?"

"If you mean Geass then it's not a problem anymore 'cause I kind of told them about it, too." The brunette chuckled weakly as he waited for the Britannian's incoming wrath.

"YOU DID WHAT? Why the hell would you do that?"

"It was C.C.'s idea!"

"And you trusted HER? A WITCH?"

"Get over it, boy. It went fine, no one's plotting against you right now." C.C. said.

"Even Cornelia?"

"Even Cornelia. OK, you might be facing some serious verbal abuse but I'm sure you can handle that. Anyway, she's probably the least you should worry about." Suzaku answered and the girl hummed in agreement.

"Why?"

"Let's see, we're around an hour away from Britannia. We're going to the Imperial Palace, remember? It's also where Nunnally is."

Lelouch was taken aback as reality struck him, what he's about to face was the worst case scenario they'd been thinking about for so long. Reuniting with his younger sister was NOT something he was prepared for.

**A/N: And CUT! That's chapter 15 done, I'm gonna take a break for a week and then start on the next chapter. I SWEAR I'll try my best to update faster, maybe sometime around Christmas. I only have 2 more weeks of school and then it's end of year and my best friends all went oversea so I have plenty of time to myself (aka writing time). Btw, it was my birthday on Monday and my brother just got his P license, hooray! Just wanted to share the good news!^^ Oh and happy birthday to Lelouch on the 4****th**** and Ciel Phantomhive from Kuroshitsuji on the 14****th****. I can't believe I've been writing this story for a year and still going! One final thing, does anyone here watch D Gray Man? I'm kind of addicted to it right now, it's a pretty awesome anime! OK, I'm going to sleep now, I have a bad cold, again. T-T**


	16. Reluctant Reunions

**I'm baaaaaaaaacccccckkkkk! I told you I'll update somewhere around Christmas! OK, this is kinda late but yeah, it's better than nothing! ^^ So this chapter is my present to everyone, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! And Happy Birthday to Allen Walker from D Gray Man, I love you Allen!...Yeah, I'm kinda obsessed with that anime right now, check it out!**

**Replies: **

**107602: Thank you for the review, I hope you'll like this chapter.**

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**Silverskies87: YAY! DGM fan! Celebration dance! How did you know the chapter will come out on the 4****th ****? I'm actually still watching the anime and haven't read all of the manga but I'm still reading the newest chapters anyway (Allen was so hot in chapter 210!):) I'm guessing you're a yullen fan? Me too! Well, I can't choose between yullen and Laven! Hell, I even like Tyki and poker pair a little! . Anyway, thanks for reviewing!**

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**Disclaimer: Code Geass and all of its characters do not belong to me.**

**Chapter 16 – Reluctance Reunion**

Thanks to Suzaku's reminder about Nunnally, Lelouch had been immersed in his own thoughts for most part of the flight to Pendragon. They were flying across Britannia's cities and will be at their destination within 10 minutes. Ever since Zero Requiem, facing all of his allies was out of the question. Even when he agreed to help Suzaku, Lelouch had kept the possibility of having to meet his younger sister as low he could. Now, in the matter of minutes, he'll be reunited with her and the meeting was bound to be a difficult one. The thought of running away while he still can did cross the raven-haired youth's head but the idea was obviously impossible and ridiculous.

"Lelouch, it'll be fine. The others are truly your allies now and Nunnally will be ecstatic to see you again." Suzaku said from Lancelot's speakers.

"It isn't that simple, Suzaku. Plus, we all know everything I did 5 years ago were despicable and unforgivable to say the least."

"I already explained why you did them and I'm pretty sure they understood. Look, if it makes you feel any better, C.C. and I will be there with you. And I promise the only thing we'll be doing is talking."

"Look on the bright side, boy. When this is over, there won't be anything else to worry about and all the planning for battles will be so much easier." C.C. chimed in and Suzaku hummed in agreement.

"Alright already, let's just get this over with! It's not like I have any other choice anyway."

"That's the spirit! Look, there's the Imperial Palace."

The trio had arrived in Pendragon and the extravagant palace was less than 2 minutes away. Once they were hovering above the laboratory, the Knightmare Frames waited for the gates to slide open and then landed in the spacious room. During the flight, Suzaku had gladly changed out of the Russian military clothes and into his Zero attire. He was the first to jump down from Lancelot's hatch and was greeted by Cecile and Lloyd as usual.

"Welcome back, Zero. I'm so glad you're safe. You too, Miss C.C. and…umm…Lelouch…" Cecile trailed off uncertainly as the two immortals walked over to them, The blue-haired scientist was clearly still adjusting to the news of the Britannian surviving Zero Requiem. The fact that he was immortal did not make it any easier either.

"Lelouch, you have got to tell me more about Geass and immortality. This power is simply mesmerizing. Maybe you'll let me do some experiments later on?" Lloyd suggested excitedly.

"Lloyd, stop being so rude! He's our guest, too! Oh goodness, I'm so sorry. We shouldn't be keeping you here for so long when the others are waiting. They're in Conference Room No.6, good luck!" Cecile apologized repeatedly and moved aside with a warm smile.

"Thanks, Cecile, Lloyd. We'll see you later." Suzaku said as he exited the lab with his companions.

"You're ready?" He asked when the three were standing before the closed door of the conference room.

"Just get on with it, I want this to be over and done with once and for all as soon as possible." Lelouch snapped impatiently. He'd changed into the Black Knights' uniform which Cecile had given a few minutes ago.

"Good to see you're finally enthusiastic about it."

"Hmph!"

Suzaku chuckled softly behind his Zero mask and pushed the doors open slowly. As they stepped inside the room, they could see all the occupants' eyes on them. Sitting at the long oval table were Cornelia, Ohgi and Kallen. All three had been sitting in silence and staring with barely any movement as they waited for the immortals.

"Huh, I expected more than just three people." Lelouch commented absentmindedly as he took a seat between C.C. and Zero.

"You're pretty carefree right now." Cornelia stated in a monotonous tone.

"As you already know, I'm immortal. What's there to be afraid of?"

"You're right, attempting to kill you would be a waste of time and effort. Besides, if what your ex-knight over there told us is true, you're only half the bastard you made yourself out to be. So, was it really your plan to be killed by Zero 5 years ago?"

"What do you think, dear sister?"

"Stop beating around the bush and answer the damn question!" Cornelia snapped and slammed a tightly-clenched fist on the table.

"And if I don't?"

"Seriously, Lelouch, now's not the time to mess around." Suzaku cut in before Cornelia strangle the latter.

"*sigh* Fine. Yes, that was my plan – it was also known as Zero Requiem at the time. Only C.C., Suzaku, Earl Asplund, Miss Croomy, Sayoko Shinozaki and Lord Jeremiah knew about it. On another note, I truly intended on dying. Becoming an immortal was completely an unexpected turn of even. I only found out about that side-effect of Geass a few months before my death. Also, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the world but a certain idiot just had to drag me back into this mess."

"Wow, you're being awfully honest and informative." Cornelia said.

"Do you prefer otherwise?"

"No. Suzaku, did you know that Lelouch was still alive and hid it from everyone?"

"I had no idea. When I was in Hawaii with Princess Nunnally, I met Lelouch by accident and managed to find where he was living the next day – also a coincident. Then I started contacting him more frequently and asked him to return here to help us fight against Russia. Everyone, I know we had plenty of misunderstandings and conflicts between each other but I really wish we can leave it all behind. After all, it's the past." Suzaku said and looked around the room hopefully.

"I agree with him." Kallen spoke for the first time since the immortals' arrival. "Even if we wanted to, there's nothing that can be done to change the past. Besides, Lelouch doesn't seem to be a threat to us anymore."

"Hmph, obviously. If I wanted you dead, I would've done so 5 years ago. And I wouldn't have gotten involved in this stupid war with Russia, would I?" Lelouch pointed out matter-of-factly.

"I'm sure he meant to say 'thanks', Kallen." Suzaku rephrased before diverting his attention to the Britannian princess. "What about you, Princess Cornelia? Can you and Lelouch turn over a new leaf and start off the right way this time?"

Cornelia glared coldly at the two boys for a moment before answering, "Even though he's a lying, treacherous, scheming and manipulative bastard, he's still my stepbrother and we're all adults. I can't hold a grudge against him forever."

The Japanese teenager exhaled in relief while Lelouch raised an eyebrow in mild astonishment.

"Hmm, that's very kind of you, Cornelia. I'm almost touched." The latter said amusedly.

"People change, but I'll still be watching you. If I see anything that is just vaguely suspicious, I'll make sure your fate will be worse than death itself."

"I suppose that's the most I can ask for from you so I'll take what I can get. Thank you, I guess."

Suzaku nodded and faced the last person in the room who had yet to voice his opinion. Before he could say anything, Ohgi held up a hand to silence the brunette.

"There's no need to ask me, if Kallen and Princess Cornelia are fine with it then I have no objection."

"Great! That means Lelouch can be himself again without all the sneaking and disguising!" Suzaku exclaimed happily. He felt he could cry tears of joy at any moment now.

"Technically he still has to remain that way outside of this room or he might as well go to the nearest broadcasting station and declare to the world that Lelouch vi Britannia is alive." C.C. commented smugly.

"Geez, thanks a lot for ruining my mood, C.C."

"Any time."

"Well, I think we should get going, we all have business to take care of." Ohgi said and stood up from his seat at the same time with Kallen.

"Indeed. And you three should go and rest. Plus, I have a feeling we'll hear from Vladimir soon." Cornelia agreed and pushed her chair in as well.

"Thank you so much for your time." Suzaku said politely.

"Even though it was completely unnecessary." His dark-haired friend muttered without making eye-contact.

When the two Black Knights had left the room, Cornelia stopped at the door and turned around. "…Lelouch?"

"What?"

"There's one final thing I need to ask you."

"Go on, what is it then?"

"Was…Euphy's d-death an essential part of your plan?" The Britannian's voice cracked slightly and Suzaku stiffened at the mention of her precious and irreplaceable sister. Even Lelouch visibly twitched, he'd hoped no one would bring that even up.

"I guess there's nothing to hide anymore. No, it wasn't essential. In fact, it was unintentional, an accident."

"WHAT?" Both Suzaku and Cornelia cried in union.

"In the middle of my conversation with Euphy, I lost control of my Geass. It'd become so strong that I couldn't turn it off. Without even realizing it, I ordered Euphemia to kill all Japanese. It was suppose to be just a harmless example. Then, I decided I've gone too far to turn back so it became my excuse for starting the Black Rebellion and to gain the Japanese's support."

"Why didn't you tell me any of this?" Suzaku asked with a little anger bubbling inside.

"Like you would've believed me." Lelouch turned back to his stepsister. "…I'm sorry, Cornelia."

"You two weren't the only people who grieved for Euphemia, Lelouch was also troubled by that. It's true, I was there." C.C. added.

"Princess, you should forgive him now that you know the truth. I think Euphy would've wanted us to." The brunette said to convince the Britannian as well as himself.

"You're right, but I still need some time to adjust. At least I know you're not a cold-blooded murderer, Lelouch."

"Hey, if I didn't kill you or Schneizel, why would I kill Euphy of all people?"

Cornelia gave the three a small hint of a smile before closing the door behind her and walking away, leaving the immortals alone.

"Wow, that went pretty well." Suzaku commented cheerfully and C.C. nodded.

"Ugh, what a waste of time it was." Lelouch mumbled while leaning back in his chair.

"Stop saying that. You really surprised me at the start. Before we entered, you were nervous and then you just went in and made smart comments like usual."

"Me? Nervous? Don't be absurd."

"Right…" The brunette trailed off with a raised eyebrow. _Must be the pride._

"Anyway, we should go, this whole thing is really tiring." Lelouch quickly stood up and walked towards the door, C.C. also followed him silently.

"Hey, we're not done yet. There's still a person you need to meet." Suzaku reminded and put on his mask as he stopped the other two when they were outside.

The amethyst-eyed boy cursed under his breath and glared. "Can't it wait? I really don't want to go through that conversation for a second time in one day."

"No, I need to visit Nunnally today since I haven't seen her in awhile. Plus, you're the person who kept going on about 'getting this over with as soon as possible', remember?"

"Shut up! Fine, what are we standing here for then?" Lelouch gave his Japanese friend another glare as he waited for said boy to lead the way.

Suzaku smiled in response and walked a few steps ahead of his companions. He led them to the fifth floor of the second building where the residents' rooms were located. The building had five floors in total. The first two floors were for the employees and some utilities such as kitchen, dining room and library while the rest of the place was for guestrooms, the royalties' rooms and the throne room. The three stopped in front of the third last room on the highest floor.

"This is the same room as when we were kids, mine used to be this one on the left." Lelouch said as a wave of nostalgia washed over him.

"Really? She must have chosen it for the sake of memories." Suzaku replied and knocked twice on the smooth wooden door.

"Come in!" A feminine voice called out from the other side after a few seconds.

"I'll stay out here, this matter doesn't involve me." C.C. said as she sat down and leaned against the adjacent wall.

"Lelouch, you wait outside for a minute, too. I'll call when it's okay to come in. Otherwise you'll probably give her a heart attack if you just walk in without notice." Suzaku explained and turned the doorknob.

Lelouch nodded wordlessly and moved out of sight for a moment as the latter pushed open the door and stepped inside. It's been some time since he last visited Nunnally's room but Suzkau saw that it was still the same as always. Right in the middle of the room but leaning against the back wall was a king-size bed, along the wall on the left was a large comfortable-looking sofa with lines of bookcases next to it. Above them were some framed photos of her family and friends. The right side of the room was an enormous window nearly the size of the opposing wall and over looked the garden between the buildings. Nunnally was now sitting at a small table beside the window with Sayoko pouring some tea into her cup.

"Suzaku, you're back! I heard that you were in Japan for some business, I assume it went well?" Nunnally beamed and placed her teacup on the table before turning around to fully face him.

"Yes, it did. I just got back around an hour ago, I would've come here right away but I had a meeting with Cornelia and some other." Suzaku replied as he took off the Zero mask and hung it on the coat hanger by the door.

"It's alright, I'm happy that you're here now."

"Listen, Nunnally, there's something I need to talk about." Suzaku said seriously.

"What is it?"

"Well, it's more like there's someone I want you to meet. But first, Sayoko, can you leave us alone for now?"

The Japanese woman seemed surprised by the request but nevertheless bowed and obeyed silently.

"This sounds important, is something wrong?" Nunnally frowned as she watched her ever-present maid and bodyguard leave the room.

"No, nothing's wrong. I just think it's better with only the three of us here." Suzaku said and opened the door once again by a fraction to speak to someone. "You can come in now."

Nunnally looked in confusion as a teenager wearing a set of Black Knights uniform entered and hesitantly took small steps towards her. The dark triangular mask covered most of his face so she couldn't recognize him but his overall physique seemed familiar enough. _It couldn't be, it's not possible. _The girl thought in denial as an image of her deceased older brother flashed through her mind. A part of her wanted to believe that a miracle had taken place but she knew she'd only be disappointed in the end.

Then, the Black Knight knelt before her in an also familiar fashion and gingerly removed his mask. The curtain of dark hair moved aside as he looked up, letting his beautiful amethyst orbs stare directly at hers. Nunnally's eyes widened as she examined the teenager before her, he matched the image in her mind to every last detail. It really was Lelouch in front of her, alive and completely unchanged by time, save for the red bird-like stigmata across his forehead that she knew symbolized Geass.

Nunnally covered her mouth to repress the sobs as tears streamed down her cheeks like they'd been held back for years. With all the strength she could muster, the Britannian girl pushed her body up from the wheelchair and threw herself at her brother. Lelouch managed to catch her and held her by the waist as she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest.

"Big brother!" Nunnally cried and more tears flowed down and wet the raven's shirt.

"I'm sorry for leaving you for so long, Nunnally. You have every right in the world to hate me for everything I did." Lelouch said softly and pushed her back a bit to look at her in the eyes.

"How could I ever do something like that? When you were dying, I somehow saw a flashback about you. It was probably your memories and then I knew why you did those things. You were so foolish, why would you do all that just because of something I said?" Nunnally replied between sobs and cried even more.

"Because you truly deserve to live in a gentle world like the one in your wish and I'd do anything to make it reality." Lelouch smiled warmly as he wiped the tears away with the back of his hand and hugged her close again.

"H-How did you survive?" His beloved sister asked after minutes of crying in silence.

"Let's just say it's one of Geass' side-effects that made me immortal and the rest is irrelevant history."

"OK." Nunnally sniffed and remained in her brother's embrace.

"See, Lelouch? All the worrying you did was for naught and now we're all back together again." Suzaku said and wrapped his arms around the Britannian siblings, he's almost cried himself when witnessing the heartfelt reunion.

"Lelouch, please promise that you'll never leave us again." Nunnally moved back and pleaded.

"That'll never happen because I'll never let him, Nunnally." Suzaku reassured her and carried her back to the wheelchair.

"And I don't think I can stand being away from you for years again." Lelouch said and took her hand in his.

"Are you going to be living in the palace with me from now on?"

"No, I'm staying with Suzaku at the moment."

"Oh, then can I visit you guys? I want to know how you met again as well."

"I think the answer's obviously a 'yes', Nunnally."

The trio's conversation was interrupted by C.C. opening to door and entering. "Are you guys done yet? There's someone here to see you." The witch said to Lelouch and Suzaku as Kallen appeared.

"You two need to be at the control room immediately. Vladimir just sent us a call. We're waiting for you so we didn't pick up but I'm sure he'll call again." Kallen informed and left after a quick smile to Nunnally.

"I guess that's our cue to go. We'll see you soon, Nunnally." The boys put back on their masks and exited the room.

"You guys go, I'm heading home. I really don't see the point of me being there." C.C. waved and walked in a different direction as they made their way to the control room.

Inside was the usual group of commanders standing in front of the screen with a flashing incoming call. Cornelia saw Zero entering and pressed answer.

"Hello, took you long enough to answer." Vladimir said with slight annoyance in his voice. He scanned through the crowd and spotted the raven-haired immortal. "I see you made it back safe and sound, Lelouch."

"No thanks to you." The teenager glared darkly at the Russian.

"Anyway, I'm just calling to thank all of you for reminding me of an important fact: Britannia is nothing but a lying, sly and uncivilized mob."

"What the hell is that suppose to mean?" Cornelia yelled.

"Not only did you go against our deal for Lelouch, you faked the deaths of influential characters, twice."

"For your information, not one of us said anything about a deal with you and we just recently found out about Lelouch."

"You're not denying about his little knight then?"

"The same goes with him, we had no idea. Wait how do you know about that?"

"Oh please, give me more credit than that. Along with some green-haired girl, he was in Moscow to rescue Lelouch. I had a suspicion so I dug up some information regarding the 99th Emperor of Britannia and articles about the Knight of Zero popped right up. Quite interesting background I might add, Suzaku Kururugi is a fascinating person. Where is he now?"

"That's none of your business."

"I suppose you're right. Back to the main point, I am less than happy with Britannia's lies and petty tricks which had done nothing but waste my time. The next time we meet, there will be hell to pay. I will not show any mercy, at all."

"Brilliance performance but I fail to see the threat." Lelouch said calmly.

"Keep up that attitude. It's much more enjoyable and satisfying to destroy your enemy when they're fighting back with all they have." Vladimir smirked and the screen flashed to black, leaving the room in a tense silence.

"I believe this means it's on." Zero stated solemnly.

"Indeed. The next battle will no doubt be the biggest one so far and we'll be ready for it." Lelouch answered and everyone agreed with equal determination in their eyes.

**A/N: How was the chapter? Good? Bad? Horrible? Leave a review to comment on it or just talk about random stuff. ^^ Once again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I have another present to you guys: at the end of my profile is a link to download Code Geass 2012 calendar if anyone is interested. See ya!**


	17. No Risk, No Glory

**H-hi, it's me again. I wouldn't be surprised if you guys forgot about me and this story already 'cuz it's totally my fault. I'm soooo sorry for taking so long (repeat 100000000 times) but you have no idea how busy I am now. First, the ever-present writer's block. Then the new school year started and I entered my senior years of high school. Man, what a HUGE difference it is to junior, I'm drowning in homework every single day! I have worked very hard to bring you a new chapter so I hope you guys will forgive me. Oh yeah, guess what? This is the second last chapter! Originally, I planned for the story to be about 10 chapters but as you can see, that plan went out the window a year ago. ^^ On another note, we've officially passed the 100 reviews mark! (Whooooo!) :) Thank you so much, that is more than I could ever hope for! Anyway, let's move on while we're young. Geez, I have got to cut down on the sugar! XD**

**Review Replies:**

**107602: Thank you for reviewing, sorry I took so long. You can finally read more of the story now. ^^**

**Silverskies87: Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. I thought the scene was well written, too. Good to see another Yullen and pokerpair fan around, I'm trying to get my friends to watch DGM and so far it's working! XD Can't wait for more chapters, I want an anime continuation too!**

**Cecilia Lamperouge: Lol, I totally forgot about him! Oh well, thanks for pointing that out! :) **

**Ame: Haha, what a creative mind you have! It did cross my mind but it's not going to happen in this fic, sorry! Feel free to imagine whatever you like though… XD**

**VampirePrinssess: Wow, that must be the longest review I've ever seen 0_o, thank you! Got to give you the randomness point for the question! Hmm, why do people say 'it tastes like chicken', a very good question. I think I know the answer to that, you see: it began when the universe was created and…I stopped caring. (Note: It's not true, don't try to look it up ^^)**

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**EmD23: Once again, I forgot something. Damn, this is awkward. But yeah, thanks for reminding me! ^^**

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**Whew, that was a lot of work. But it was my pleasure, a million thanks to everyone once again! The chapter is right ahead!**

**Disclaimer: Does anyone actually read this part?... Whatever, I do not own Code Geass.**

**Chapter 17 – No Risk, No Glory**

_**Pendragon, Britannia**_

Within the Imperial Palace, the military department was wrapped in a tense atmosphere. Troops and mechanics were mostly located in the laboratory with Knightmare Frames, another small group was in the control room monitoring Russia's every move while the leaders locked themselves in the conference room. Because of the ongoing war, these settings were getting way too familiar to everyone's liking. On the same note, they all had no doubt that it was coming to an end, very soon. Sitting around the oval table were the usual group of commanders and strategists, waiting for someone to contribute their opinion. Kallen was the first to speak up, breaking the stalemate.

"Let's bring up the choices we have right now, should we make the first move or wait for them to do it?"

"If we take the initiative, Russia will get homeland advantage since they're probably waiting for us as we speak." Suzaku replied.

"I agree with that observation. Plus, they're most likely targeting Japan, or Tokyo to be specific. The reasons for that being: the location of Black Knights' Headquarters, closer in distance and having a weaker line of defense than Britannia at the moment." Lelouch joined the discussion and the rest followed suit.

"If that's really the case, our first priority should be sending orders to evacuate the citizens." Prince Schneizel suggested and immediately went to do the job after receiving approving nods. "I'll check on surveillance on the way as well."

"We also need to stay on the defensive side in both Britannia and Japan. Should Russia aim for here, we'll have to stop them at sea and keep the commotion away from the homeland." Cornelia added as she watched her brother leaving the room.

"There's no denying that it isn't the best way to start a battle, but we have no other choice. By having control over Korea, Switzerland and Greece, Russia has been able to spread their armies. Thus, making it difficult for us to predict where and when the first wave will come." The raven-haired immortal stated, worsening the situation.

"In other words, Japan will not hold for long if attacked, correct?"

"Unfortunately, yes. And losing an ally in a fight like this will most certainly mean Britannia's downfall as well."

"So the only thing we can do right now is protect Japan to the best of our ability while doing the same with Britannia." Kallen concluded, not liking the thought of losing Japan one bit.

"Yes, and I have a suggestion for that. Firstly, as soon as our troops are ready, Xingke and Gino will bring a quarter to Japan. When anything happens, you and Suzaku will be sent with two quarters of the army as back-up. The remaining number will remain here."

"That sounds like a reasonable plan." Suzaku said and the redhead hummed an agreement.

"However, this strategy will put you two in a difficult position. Russia will most likely be keeping your army halfway between here and Japan. Hence, you'll have two tasks. If possible, head to Japan to aid the Black Knights in fending off attacks and when the enemy shows signs of approaching Britannia, you have to return to your previous location without delay. It's obviously a tough job, but I'm sure the two of you can handle it."

"That's right, they're the only ones capable of doing something like that." Princess Cornelia commented approvingly.

"OK, looks like a basic plan has been drawn up. Small changes can easily be made according to the course of battle later on. We should not waste any more time on discussion when there's a lot to be done. Let's go." Lelouch effectively concluded the meeting and everyone parted to take care of their duties.

After nearly another 3 hours of frantic preparation, the armies were ready to be dispatched and two of the leaders were on their way. When Xingke and Gino reached Japan without any trouble, the first change of plan was made and Suzaku and Kallen were sent as well.

As expected, once the main army had neared Japan's borders, Russia responded. A large army from their mainland blocked the route back to Britannia while a second wave attacked from another direction. Kallen and Suzaku's troops were trapped as another Russian army made its way to Japan without interference. Britannian soldiers moved to attack formation as the enemy closed in. It was then that Suzaku saw General Vladimir at the frontier not too far away from him. The latter obviously spotted him as well for he began speaking directly to the White Knight.

"It's been awhile, Zero. And I thought you'd never make the same mistake but look where we are."

"Shut up, we thought you were creative enough to not use the same trick twice. But none of that matter now, does it?" Lancelot Albion drew the pair of MVS from their sheaths.

"No, they do not." The black doppelganger opposite mirrored the action and raised one sword, a signal that could only mean one word: attack.

/

Back in Britannia, Lelouch silently watched the images displayed on the screen before him. They had all underestimated the amount of troops Russia could produce in a short period of time. At both battlefields, the number was almost even with Russia leading by a few thousands. Nevertheless, that difference was enough to be a game-changer should it come down to that. _Looks like I have no choice, Kallen and Suzaku will need help._

"C.C., we're going. Cornelia, I'm leaving this place to you and Schneizel." He said to the two as he grabbed the Black Knight jacket and mask and headed for the laboratory.

"Are you sure you should be going there?" The green-haired witch asked after making an announcement to call for half the military force left in Pendragon.

"It'll be fine, Vladimir will be busy with Zero and we can take care of the small fries."

"If you say so." Once all the soldiers had assembled, C.C. started Lancelot Frontier's engines and took off with Shinkiro beside her.

When they got to the battlefield, which was the area around the Japanese borders, it was utter chaos. There were Knightmare Frames as far as the eye could see and explosions lighted up the place every second. The Russian army seemed to have been slightly surprised by the arrival of Britannia's reinforcement since they were disoriented for a short moment. However, they quickly recovered and the Britannians were unable to penetrate any further into the battlefield. C.C. gave the command to attack and they made quick progress in annihilating the enemies.

"Looks like we can only stay here and try to lessen Suzaku and Kallen's workload." Lelouch commented as he shot down a group of Russian Knightmare Frames.

"Let's get to it then, good luck I guess."

Without another word, the two immortals separated and focused entirely on the foe around them.

/

About a few more kilometers towards Japan, in the middle of the zone, were Kallen and Suzaku. Both had been fending off attacks from Russian Knightmares without rest while keeping an eye on the number of troops remaining. Around 20 minutes had passed and both countries had received significant damage. At the moment, Suzaku was surrounded by a group of Knightmares since they'd learnt that attacking solo was definitely not the answer when going against one the world's best pilots.

At the horizon to his right, the brunette could make out the shape of Kallen's Guren being in pretty much the same predicament. He decided to deal with the circle of Knightmare Frames swiftly and then head over to help her – it was always better to have someone watching your back after all. A couple of slashes of the MVS's and a release of all four slash harkens got the job done with ease. By the time he'd flew to where the redhead was, she'd destroyed the surrounding enemies from before without so much as a scratch.

"Kallen, you OK?" Zero asked while shooting down an incoming Sutherland.

"Of course, these amateurs can never land a hit on me. Or you, for that matter."

"Yeah but the problem is that they keep on coming and we all have a limit called energy filler."

"There's just no end to this, is there?"

"Not that I can see at the moment, but let's do the best we can. By the way, have you seen Vladimir?" For some reason, after their encounter at the beginning, the Russian general had practically disappeared without a trace in the sea of Knightmare Frames.

"I only caught glimpses of him here and there. He's probably trying to take down as many Britannian as possible and attack us when we least suspect at the same time."

"That does sound like a logical thing to do, remember never to let down your guard."

"The same goes for you."

"Yeah." The two pilots cut off communication and fought back-to-back with each other. Thanks to the union, the number of Russian soldiers in the area decreased even faster.

"This is taking way too long. Zero, please contact Xingke or Gino. I'm worried about them." Kallen said after defeating another group of six all at once.

Suzaku accepted the request and sent a call to Gino. After a few seconds, an image of the blond pilot appeared on the screen. "Lord Weinberg, what is the situation in Japan?"

"The number of Russian troops is far greater than we estimated but we're holding up just fine, for now anyway. I could really use some help if your hands are free."

"I'm sorry but neither I nor Kallen will be of assistance any time soon. Vladimir's over here with his army and is proving to be a real pain."

"I see. Well, just focus on your own enemies, we'll be fine."

"Right, I'll contact you soon, Lord Weinberg." Zero ended the call and turned towards Kallen outside. "They're handling the situation well but it's still best if we head over there as quick as we can."

"That goes without saying. Let's split up so we can cover more area." The red-haired girl answered and Guren's Energy Wings glowed brightly. Within the next few seconds, the Knightmare could only be seen as a flash of light as it zoomed through the place. As Kallen returned to where Lancelot was, explosions burst simultaneously and debris rained towards the ocean.

"Very impressive but it wouldn't be right if I let you do all the work, right?"Zero asked rhetorically before the two separated ways again in order to work more efficiently.

After eliminating the targets within a two-hundred-meter radius, the masked pilot smiled faintly. _This actually brings back memories. Only this time I'm fighting WITH Kallen instead of against her. _Shaking off the sense of nostalgia, Suzaku scanned over his radar to see more Russians gathering. Then, he noticed an incoming call and pressed 'answer' with a frown.

"Lelouch? What are you doing in Shinkiro?"

"What else do you think I'm doing? Patting puppies?"

"You know what I mean, shouldn't you be in Britannia?"

"As you can see, the plan changed. At the rate you guys are going, you'll need back-up sooner or later so here I am. But, I can't get any further into your part so I'll remain on the outside with C.C."

"I guess it can't be helped. Just be careful, Vladimir is still around here somewhere."

"Don't sound so surprised, it's only natural for a general to be on the battlefield with his army."

"Alright, alright, I get it. Hey, don't you dare let anything like last time to happen again."

"Tsk, like I need you to tell me that. Worry about yourself for a change, idiot." Without waiting for a reply, Lelouch cut off the call.

Suzaku smiled before returning to annihilating any foe in sight. Every once in a while, he briefly glanced around the vicinity to check on the soldiers nearby. Occasionally, Kallen could be spotted as well. He was pretty sure the bright red Knightmare was in similar state as Lancelot right now: covered in scratches. Of course, these insignificant exterior damages were the least of their worries. Putting that aside, one thing that had been annoying the brunette to no end was the fact that he kept losing track of Vladimir. The sly Russian would appear here and then, killing one soldier after another before vanishing again. His little game of hide-and-seek was testing the Britannian leaders' patience and adding to their frustration. Then something finally happened.

When Suzaku had just finished off the last Russian Knightmare Frame in his area, Lelouch's Geass command repeated itself in his mind and his body immediately moved on its own. The Lancelot Albion jumped out of reach just as an MVS swung past where the hatch had been milliseconds earlier. The Japanese pilot gritted his teeth as he came face-to-face with his Knightmare's doppelganger.

"About time you show up, Vladimir." He hissed, making sure to practically spit the name with distaste.

"My apologies but I've been a busy man. You've managed to do quite an impressive extend of damage by yourself." The general commented as he looked around the relatively empty surrounding. "Not to mention your friend over there. If I'm not mistaken, that would be Kouzuki Kallen, the so-called Black Knights' Ace. As for you, I suppose you'll to be able to do at least this much to live up to the name 'Knight of Zero'."

"You really don't know when to stop talking, do you? I have far better things to do than listen to all the crap you says."

"Hmph, what a hot-headed person. However, I'm sure you're aware that your defeat is nearly inevitable right now. Japan's line of defense is starting to show gaps while Britannia's mainland is practically wide-open. Obviously, none of you will be going anywhere near those places any time soon."

Suzaku growled, he had nothing to rebut back to that. Time was not on their side, he was literally in the middle of the combat zone facing a tough foe with the same Knightmare Frame and more than half of his own Lancelot's energy filler had been used. _All I can do is hope everyone can hold on for a bit longer. Lelouch should be able to stop the enemy from getting close to Britannia but there is still the matter of Japan, damn it! _Seeing no other way, the Japanese leader made up his mind and called Kallen as Vladimir began charging towards him.

"Kallen, finish up what you're doing and head over to Japan. I'll handle things here."

"What brought this up all of a sudden?"

"Vladimir's right in front of me and it'll take a while to deal with him. You should take a portion of this army and go help the Black Knights before it's too late." Suzaku cursed and avoided another one of the Russian general's attacks.

"Are you out of your mind? Not only will you be alone with the enemy, you'll have even less troops at your disposal. Even miracles wouldn't be able to save you with those odds!"

"Just hurry up and go! I'll be fine!"

"Forget it, since when did I take orders from you? Stop trying to play the hero, I'm not going anywhere! You have two options right now, you can either fight him by yourself while I deal with the rest or I can go over there and take him on as well."

"Have you always been this stubborn?"

"Hell yeah!"

"Fine, then option 1 it is."

"Good, that's better. Call me right away if you need any help."

Suzaku didn't even have time to reply as Vladimir managed a mildly-deep cut to Lancelot's leg. He had to admit, he deserved that for not paying enough attention in the middle of a battle.

"I suggest you focus from now on if you want to survive a little longer." Vladimir taunted with a tone full of self-satisfaction.

"Shut up, that was a one-time-only fluke. Now the real fight starts."

"Excellent! You were beginning to bore me."

The white Lancelot Albion took the offensive side this time and attacked without holding back. Its Russian counterpart skillfully blocked all simultaneous strikes of the glowing MVS's without even breaking a sweat. Suzaku sped up his attacks and shot out four slash harkens. The close range attacks would've worked against most pilots but Vladimir easily saw through it and jumped back to safety. The Japanese boy predicted that reaction and fired his VARIS rifle. His opponent glided pass the powerful beam, letting it plummet harmlessly into the ocean and creating a huge explosion of water.

Suzaku quickly noted that he had to be mindful of the surrounding before shooting, it would be very problematic if it hit a group of Britannians. Plus, there was no point in wasting much-needed energy in shots that would miss. _For now, I should stick with close-ranged combats. We're close to where Kallen is, maybe I can lure him nearer to her and there'll be a chance for an ambush. That might be faster than one-on-one. _After another moment of contemplation, the brunette deemed his strategy possible and put it into action.

The Lancelot zoomed towards the enemy and resumed slashing and cutting with the pair of MVS. He occasionally threw in a few kicks and slash harkens to prevent the series of moves from developing a predictable pattern. Vladimir put up an almost impeccable defense but still received same damage while landing hits on his opponent as well. The two Knightmare Frames fought back and forth with an amazing speed. Their movements were a blur, it was difficult to find an instance where they could be fully seen. It was obvious that the pilots were evenly matched with each other.

Throughout the fight, Suzaku made sure that they were moving towards Kallen's direction. So far, Vladimir hadn't seemed to notice his intention yet. Also, there hadn't been enough time to contact his comrade. He could only hope that she'll spot them soon and understand what he was trying to do. A Guren was in sight now and he knew that was her. As long as Vladimir didn't look down at his radar, he would be mistaken that the other Knightmare was his subordinate. _They should've thought about that first before stealing the designs. All I have to do now is keep him occupied and clueless. _Suzaku's good luck continued as Kallen just happened to be turning around at that moment and saw him.

Guren's claw flashed twice, the brunette guessed that that was her confirming signal. He smirked and sped up Lancelot's movements, bringing them closer to the Black Knights' Ace. Once the Knightmare Frames were in the ideal position, Guren SEITEN raised its right arm and a bright red energy disk materialized. Vladimir immediately noticed the dangerous object as soon as it appeared.

"So this was your plan, Suzaku Kururugi. This can also be called suicide, did you know that? If I avoided it, you won't have enough time to escape. On the other hand, if it cut threw my Knightmare, you'll be its next target."

"Worry about yourself first. I'm different from you, that thing won't be able to hurt me." Suzaku replied and restrained the black Lancelot Albion from moving too soon.

"Oh? And how might that be?"

"It's simple, I'm cursed. Kallen, throw it NOW!" The Japanese yelled and she obliged. The energy disk headed straight for its target at speed faster than any Knightmare could muster.

At this point, the Geass command was screaming inside Suzaku's head and he used Vladimir's cockpit as footing to do a backflip, letting the disk soared through empty space. The Russian general however, fell for their trap and could not avoid the carefully timed attack. His Knightmare had one arm and a large part of one Energy Wing cleanly cut off.

"I-impossible, no human should have been able to react that fast." Vladimir said as he looked at his enemy's unharmed Lancelot.

"Like I said, I'm cursed…You lost, Vladimir."

"That maybe so, but if I'm going down, you're coming with me." The remaining slash harkens on the black Lancelot Albion were fired. They wrapped tightly all around Suzaku's Knightmare Frame, preventing any movements. The Russian general smirked and entered the code to activate the self-destruct command.

"It's useless, there's nothing you can do that will kill me. Since this is the end, I'll tell you why Lelouch and I are still alive: we're immortals. Farewell." Suzaku explained after putting on the Zero mask, he could imagine the look of complete disbelief that was no doubt on Vladimir's face right now. He opened the cockpit's door by a portion and jumped without another look back.

Just two seconds after he'd abandoned his Lancelot, the two Knightmares exploded. The next thing he needed to worry about was this free-fall, there really wasn't much he could do about it. Of course, the impact would hurt but at least he'll survive. The problem was solved when the brunette found himself lying on a gigantic mechanical palm of Guren SEITEN.

"Thanks, Kallen! I really do owe you big time, don't I?" Suzaku yelled over the rushing wind to the pilot.

"Hmph, you sure do you crazy things, Suzaku."

"Haha, I'll take that as a compliment. Hey, can you let me get off on the ground somewhere?"

"Do you think I have any other choice? How can I fight with you in one hand?" The masked leader chuckled and waited for Guren to land on a flat surface.

"Thanks again, I'm leaving the rest to you."

"Right, they probably won't be resisting for much longer now that their leader is gone."

Suzaku nodded and waved as Kallen flew back up to the battlefield. He noticed a Britannian Sutherland flying nearby and signaled the soldier to land. Zero requested to use the transmitter and the soldier dutifully obeyed. He got into the hatch and entered Shinkiro's code.

"Who is this and what do you want?" L.L. answered after a couple of seconds.

"It's me, Zero."

"Why are you in a Sutherlan? What happened to Lancelot?"

"It's all over…we won."

**A/N: So there you go, I hope that was worth waiting for 3 months. I PROMISE the final chapter will be up in less than a month since I've already got it drafted out in my head and I have holiday again! Of course I still have homework but I think I'll manage. So yeah, stick around for the epilogue and I'll see you very soon! **

**PS: Don't forget to review, each one bring me closer to world domination. (Nah, not gonna happen. But at least they'll make me very happy! *puppy dog eyes*) :)**


	18. Epilogue

**Haha, I'm back with hours (or maybe minutes) before the deadline, how do like me now? XD I'm really surprised that so many of you thought I was joking about ending the story. Sadly, it's the truth or else I would've updated on April's Fools or something. But yeah, I'm sorry but this is really the end. As I've said before, I'm in my senior years so the majority of my time is now occupied with studying. Trust me, my parents and teachers made sure of that. So I barely have time to read fanfics, let alone write. But I'll definitely be back, hopefully with better stories! :) Anyway, shall we get started?...I think yes!**

**Replies:**

**Codenamelol: Thanks for the review! I'm really sorry but I've planned this to be the end so, that's it. I hope I didn't disappoint you too much. T_T**

**Aria Lunesta: Aww, I'm honored! Thank you for such kind comments! And welcome to the Suzalulu fanbase, I guess. XD**

**BabyKangaroo: Yes, it's good to be bad. You already know my reasons for the lateness so thank you for being patient and reviewing. I hope you'll like the epilogue!**

**VampirePrinssess: I'm glad to know you liked the chapter, thanks for the review and do enjoy the ending! (Should I do the puppy dog eyes again?) XD**

**Silverskies87: Sorry if the battle was a bit rushed but a ghost called 'writer's block' was still haunting me back then so that was all I could come up with. I'm happy you still liked it! ^^ And what happened to DGM, why no update? .**

**107602: Yes, it's really over…regrettably. But thank you for reading and reviewing! Enjoy the final chapter!**

**Disclaimer: For the last time (literally), I do not own Code Geass in any shape or form.**

**And now, without further ado…the end:**

**Chapter 18 – Epilogue**

It was the early morning right after the final battle with Russia and the world had finally regained relative peace. Ironically, it wasn't a sunny and/or beautiful day like you'd expect. A storm was coming later in the afternoon and it was already raining cats and dogs outside. Lelouch woke up at the same time as he usually did and made his way to the kitchen from his room. As he passed by the sofa, the immortal scowled in disgust at the empty red pizza boxes C.C. had carelessly left on the ground since last night. He sighed before entering the kitchen, it was always him who had to clean up after the witch.

Opening the fridge's door, Lelouch frowned for the second time. The morning just kept getting better, he'd have to go shopping sometime today as well. Not having any other choice, the dark-haired boy took the only item remaining in the machine – a carton of milk that was expiring in two days – and made a bowl of cereal.

With breakfast sorted out, Lelouch returned to the living room and sat on the couch – making sure to be as far away from the junk food boxes as possible. While swallowing the first spoonful, he picked up the remote and turned on the TV. After flicking through all the channels twice, he settled with the local news report delivered by Milly since they were on the same hottest topic anyway. That, of course, was the treaty signing between Russia and Britannia the night before. It had taken place mere hours after Suzaku won the main battle and defeated the general. Without their leader, the Russian troops were forced to abandon their fight and surrendered.

The treaty's conditions were entirely made by Britannia and the UFN with Russia having no say in it. They had agreed upon key terms such as Russia being under Britannia's supervision 24/7, the former country will be responsible for taking care of all the damage they'd done, providing help with rebuilding destroyed cities and so on. It was such a big even that the new spread like wildfire and reporters from every country in existent were present. After that, numerous interviews followed. Since Suzaku wasn't much of a public speaker, the Britannian royalties and Black Knights took over so the three immortals were able to sneak home.

Speaking of Suzaku, he was coming down the stairs while yawning and trying to comb out his even-messier-than-usual hair. "'Morning." He greeted and headed over to the couch.

"This is a surprise, normally wouldn't you still be dead to the world right now?"

"True, guess real miracles happen. Mind if I join?"

"Knock yourself out."

Suzaku smiled and plopped down beside the teen, raising an eyebrow at the stacks of Pizza Hut boxes. "So, what're you watching?"

"The only there is to watch, you saving the world, again."

"It wasn't all me, the media's just exaggerating like usual."

"Hmph, how modest. By the way, weren't Earl Asplund looking for you last night?"

Suzaku gulped at that, he knew better than going near the slightly mentally unstable scientist any time soon. "Haha, let's just say damaging the Lancelot is one thing but blowing it to smithereens for the second time is another story. He's definitely going to find a way to kill me for real this time."

"That does sound like something he'd do."

"Hey, you're still going to the party tonight, right?"

"Can I choose otherwise?"

"Nope, I'd just drag you there."

"Then why ask in the first place?"

"Touché. By the way, what's for breakfast?"

"Nothing, until we go grocery shopping."

"Oh? Is that your way of asking me on a date?"

Lelouch choked on the last bit of his cereal and turned to glare at Suzaku. "NO! I said we're shopping for food! You know what? You can starve for all I care!"

"Geez, relax, you should learn to take a joke. But seriously though, we should go on dates sometimes. Who knows, maybe something good'll happen."

It was meant to be another joke but Lelouch didn't respond in the same way. He turned away from the other boy for a moment before murmuring barely audibly, "…Maybe, just one wouldn't be too bad."

Suzaku blinked rapidly and thought silently for seconds more to make sure he'd heard right. "Wait, was that actually a 'yes'?"

The raven gritted his teeth and nodded, his face was quickly heating up from embarrassment. "I-I've thought about what you said that morning on the island and…"

"And?" Suzaku leaned in closer in anticipation.

"…I believe I might be able to return your feelings…with more time. So, yeah…" The immortal finished awkwardly and hid his face. That was undoubtedly by far the most embarrassing thing he'd ever done, or said technically.

Suzaku grinned like a child and threw his arms around the latter, bringing him into a tight hug. "Thank you so much, Lelouch!"

"Wh-what the? Let go!" The Britannian boy – who was now completely flustered – demanded and tried in vain to pry the arms off him.

"Sorry, you're just too cute when you were blushing and stuttering like that." Suzaku laughed sheepishly and moved back a bit.

"Idiot, never call a guy cute!"

"Why? What's wrong with telling the truth?"

"J-just…don't!" Lelouch glared weakly, still trying to will the redness on his face to go away.

Unable to help himself, the brunette leaned in again, this time aiming for the latter's lips. Stunned by the shock, Lelouch was immobile for a moment. When his brain finally registered what was going on, he gingerly closed his eyes and joined in. The kiss lasted for another half minute or so before the two broke apart, staring at each other. Not wanting to remain in the seemingly awkward silence, the raven grimaced and changed the subject. "Suzaku, your breath's toxic in the morning. For God's sake, at least brush your teeth before doing something like that!"

"I didn't see you complaining just a minute ago." The Japanese boy grinned victoriously when his companion blushed again.

"Sh-Shut up!"

"Good job ruining the mood, by the way."

"Yeah, you're not romantic at all, boy." A monotonous voice suddenly commented.

The two turned towards the origin of the voice and gaped when they saw C.C. standing at the entrance of the room, leaning against a wall. "C.C., how long have you been there?" Suzaku asked.

The witch shrugged casually and replied, "Long enough."

"Well why didn't you say something? It's bad to eardrop on people!" Lelouch exclaimed with his infamous dark glare.

"Oh don't mind me, just continue on with what you two were doing. Make it a make-out session this time, I'm going to get some popcorn. Or maybe pizza, that sounds like a better idea." The mischievous witch smirked and winked before leaving towards the kitchen's direction.

"WHAT? It's not like that!"

C.C. pretended not to hear him and began rummaging through the pantry. "Hey! Don't you dare ignore me! Get back here, witch! And clean up your damn messes once in a blue moon!" Lelouch left his spot on the couch and went after the green-haired girl. Before he was out of the room, he turned back towards Suzaku and growled the words, 'I'll deal with you later'.

Suzaku chuckled when he heard more yelling after that – all from a certain Britannian immortal. He leaned back against the cushion and sighed contently. Looks like things were going to be much more fun and livelier around here. Just like the way it should have been.

~Fin~

**A/N: Well, I guess that's it. Once again, I want to thank all the readers who had read (duh!), alerted, favorited and reviewed in this fanfic. You guys are all amazing and I love every single one of you (in the sort of non-creepy way) XD. You, the readers, have helped make my experience of writing fanfiction a very enjoyable one and I definitely want to continue writing once my next three (yep, THREE) years of serious studies are over. For now, I'll just be around as a fanfic reader again. Feel free to PM me if you ever write a story in one of the fandoms that I know of. Oh and special thanks to: VampirePrinssess, 106702, silverskies87, codenamelol, and anypotter for being frequent reviewers and sticking with me to the end. You don't know how happy I am for all the support. Lastly, how about doing this author one final tiny little favor? **

**I entered my cat in a competition and I need to get as many like as possible so please help! The link is right below and all you need to do is like the photo with your facebook account. It'll only take a minute so please check it out and tell your friends as well if you can! He's really cute and I even named him Arthur! XD**

**(remove the spaces) https: / / apps. facebook. com/ claw club crazy little /entry/ 2290 **

**That's all, thank you once again. And now, since I just got into the awesome Katekyo Hitman Reborn, I bid you…**

_**Arrivederci**_


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